Time For Truth
by Rocks-my-socks
Summary: AU. Five years after the first war, new laws are brought in that means Sirius will soon be free, and there is only one thing he cares about when he does get out: his beloved godson, Harry.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine, as if it needs stating.

Summary: When stricter laws comes in at the ministry, meaning every prisoner must be proved guilty before or after they are jailed, the back log of cases of the prisoners already in Azkaban must also be dealt with. Sirius Black is within weeks proved innocent and freed, determined to take custody of his beloved godson.

_Time for Truth _

**_Prologue _**

It was in that moment that Sirius Black begun to believe there was an angel watching over him once more. Five years in Azkaban was long enough for anyone to lose their faith, any prisoner would testify to that. But when the news came to Azkaban, it was as a gift from god.

Five years after the end of the wizarding war, the time had come for the ministry to begin to clear out the prison of those who they were not sure were guilty or not. Many suspected prisoners had been put away on the chance they may have been guilty. Though he doubted if his name was on that list of the doubted, Sirius now knew he had the right to protest his innocence. And when they gave him the truth serum then he was going to be able to reclaim his life but more important than that he was going to be able to reclaim the most important thing in it. His god son.

Five years had passed since he had held his pup in his arms and he longed for him more than anything in the world, a little bit more everday and if he had spent days crying since he had been in jail then it was all and only for him.

James's boy.

Well, maybe not only for him. The image of his best friend in his head was always enough to bring him to tears. He himself had lost a lot. But at least he was old enough to comprehend what was going on.

He had to get out for his sake as well as that of the Potters whether they be dead or alive.

But more than for James and Lily, it had to be for Harry.

Harry.

His whole world revolved about that precious, precious boy.

And soon they were going to be together now.

So, so soon...

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	2. A Free Man

**Chapter 1**

When the ministry got word of Sirius' Blacks application to take truth serum, none of them could believe the audacity of the man.

Everyone argued against the fact that he should be given it. The new regulations were for only those prisoners whose cases were surrounded by doubt. And the fact was in all the years he had so far been jail, there had been not a single murmuring about his innocence.

And yet by law they were required to put his case through. Ministers had grumbled that the new laws were to general. Now many who had pushed for them agreed. Surely looking at a case such as his was nothing more than a waste of ministry time?

The decision was taken to put his case through however, because of the moral face they wanted to ministry to gain. No one doubted that there was going to be a back lash against them for given the man who so many believed to be the most abominable man their world had produced since He Who Must Not Be Named a fair trial.

But they had to do it.

For the first time in a long time, in fact, maybe the only time in his life, Sirius was grateful to be a Black. The alphabetic system that the ministry intended to use to clear the back log of prisoners meant that he only had to wait for the A's to be sorted through before they got to him.

Somehow, when he knew he was so close to freedom it was worse to be in jail for all he wanted was to get out of there. He should not have been put there in the first place.

And then he was going to be able to asleep out under the stars again and he was going to be able to his little godson in his arms and tell him that everything was going to be fine for them. Just as long as they were together.

As his case got nearer and nearer the wait become more and more excruciating, so much so that by the time the day did come he was not sure whether to trust it or if they were going to say to him he had to wait for what felt another million days before the his turn came about.

Freed or not, Sirius soon released it was worth applying just for the day trip.

As soon as he got out of that godforsaken place he felt as if a fresh breathe of life had come into him and it gave him the will he needed to believe he was going to be free and with his godson as soon as he could be. If he had been losing heart then he was not any more. He had stayed sane but if there was nothing left to come back for then that was pointless.

But he had Harry. He was going to have Harry back. And when he saw those green eyes light up then the last five years were not going to matter he said to himself. They were not going to matter. The wait would be worth it when they were together once more.

Making it back to dry land, he grimaced. The next few hours, were all he had to get through.

That was all.

Together with the Aurors who were guarding him, (who he soon hoped to make his colleagues once more) he apparated under supervision to the ministry, to the court room he had never been given the chance to appear in before.

It was there that he was given the truth serum.

It was there that his life changed. And it was there that the effect of the new law came full force at the wizarding world.

"It must be a faulty dosage!" said one of the Wizengamot.

But the fact remain that when under the effect of Veritaserum, he had been asked if he had been the one to sell his best friends to Voldemort and he had been able to say no with a clear conscience. The same answer came when he was asked if he had been the one to kill the twelve muggles who had lost there life after that dreadful Halloween night. You couldn't lie under Veritaserum and he knew he was soon to be a free man despite the protesters.

"This has to be dark magic!" called another.

"Test me again!" laughed Sirius. "You'll get the same result – I never did it. I am not guilty."

"I do not think that is going to be necessary," He heard a voice call out and he felt his heart swell. It was all going to be ok.

The blind faith he had had in Dumbledore since he was a kid returned.

He remembered that voice so well from all the feasts he had had at Hogwarts. That had been the voice which had welcomed him back home after every awful summer he had had with his parents until he had run away.

As soon as he knew he was there he knew he was going to be fine. He just knew it.

Dumbledore represented the Order to him and everything else that was good in his life.

"The man is innocent. Anyone can see it now. The Veritaserum came straight from Hogwarts and it was accompanied every step of the way to the ministry. There was no way it could have been tampered with. Sirius Black is an innocent man."

It was when he heard someone else say those words that it really hit Sirius what he had been through.

He hadn't meant too. He did not even now he was going to do it. But he began to cry out of nowhere.

Five years after it happened for everyone else in the room, the war came to an end for him and he knew he was going to go home.

There was another cry in the room. Behind Dumbledore, he saw the face of Remus Lupin. His best friend was there for him and he knew he had not been the one who had killed James.

As soon as he and Remus caught eye contact he knew nothing had changed between the two of them. They had been brothers when they had been at school and they were still brothers then.

For the emotional Animagus, the rest of the trial passed as if he was in a dream. He did not concentrate. He could feel it in his heart he was going to be freed and he knew he was soon to be safe but it was then that it dawned on him that as well as excited, he was a little scared of the outside world.

He had been good at being a godfather before because he had been able to give Harry back when he had got upset or when he had been grouchy.

But that was not going to be an option anymore.

And he knew there was going to be no James either and that was the thing that really hurt him.

There was going to be a Moony but no Prongs.

At that realisation, he felt as if he had had lost his right hand. The outside world suddenly seemed a terrifying place even though he knew it was where he wanted to be without a shadow of a doubt.

When at last the court case did come to its collusion, as he had known he was going to be, he was told he was a free man.

And he didn't feel joy.

He was happy he was going to be with his beloved godson once more but without James there he could not help but feel it was a bit of a hollow victory for nothing in the world was going to bring his brother back to him was it? James and Lily really were gone for good. In Azkaban, part of him could pretend they were still in the outside world. No more.

Let out of the chair and unchained, he knew he was allowed to go just where he wanted to again.

He was free.

_He_ was **free**!

Leaving the court room he saw just outside of the door that Remus was waiting for him and he looked guilt ridden.

"I am so sorry," Said the werewolf as he did not know what else to say. He knew he had let his faith in their friendship far too quickly but the fact was Sirius was to tired of being by himself to be angry with him.

He couldn't have James. But he could have Remus in his life. And he wanted his best friend there for him more than thing. He was not going to reject the friend that he did have because he was not the one he didn't.

He knew he was going to need him.

Especially when he - they – got Harry and bought him home.

Shaking his head Sirius made it clear he did not care about his apology. There was nothing to be sorry for in his eyes. He just wanted to have someone on his side once more which he knew he had in the faithful marauder.

Sirius and Remus wasted no time in embracing one another like the brothers that they had been for so long.

"Come on let's get out of here," said Remus to him knowing Sirius had been out of the life he should have been living for too long already.

"We have to go and get Harry," said Sirius to him. Remus had been expecting it and as soon as he heard those words his heart lifted.

Ever since he had lost the friends he considered to be his family, he had been by himself and there had been days when all he could think of was Harry, just like Sirius. He missed being an Uncle.

He agreed with Sirius that they did have to go and get the boy; He had never agreed with Dumbledore that he should not be brought up outside of their world. Part of him saw the wisdom but the other half (the greater part) of him said that Harry had to be in the world where his mum and dad would want him to be.

Sirius and he were going to get him back.

But not yet.

"No Sirius, one night longer my friend. We need to talk and you need to sleep," He said to him.

Harry was six, and they were going to need their energy and their wits about them when they _did _bring him home.

Sirius felt his heart sink because as much as he knew what Remus was saying, he did not want to spend another single night away from Harry. But when they had been gone from one another for five years was one more night going to make a huge difference?

No.

And he did want to have a shower. Ever since the day he had been shut in his cell he had just felt dirty. He wanted to get Azkaban off of him before he saw his godson. He just wanted to be plain old Padfoot again more than anything else.

And he definitely did not want to scare the lad.

Nothing could be worse in his head than that. When Harry saw him, he had to be able to trust him,

Reluctantly he nodded.

"Can I come back to yours then?" he asked. He knew he had not had to though.

But all the same, he had.

"Ours, my friend. Ours."

The journey out of the ministry did not prove to be easy. Had the two friends thought about it then they would have been able to predict it. It was only when they were trying to fight their way past the reporters that it dawned on Sirius he was going to be headline news for a few days to come and he was going to be careful about what he did. He hated going through the reporters and he did not want to inflict them on his godson but that did not mean he was not going to go and get him the very next day because he knew he was going to. It was his right as Harry's guardian and he was going to exercise that right to the full. No fear was going to stop him.

Unless the lad wanted to stay with his aunt and uncle. Then they were going to be playing a completely different ball game. But Sirius could not even consider that in that moment. It hurt too much to think his one guiding light in all of this might not _want him_.

Two hours after it was declared he was once more a free and he found himself back in his friends flat having a coffee with him as they had done in times gone by.

Sirius put his head in his hands. They were sitting in a comfortable silence because neither could think of what to say. What was there to say?

They were twenty six years of age and they had lost one friends and Sirius knew he was going to have to tell Remus of Peter's betrayal of them for this all to make sense and why he hadn't been the Secret Keeper.

_If only_ he had been. It struck him it did not matter if he had been the obvious choice just as long as he had been the safest.

If only he had thought like that when they had been young.

"This is all such a mess," he sighed as he sat trying to figure out why Peter had betrayed then for the millionth time.

"Well, at least we can clear some of it up," Remus sighed. "While you were in the shower Dumbledore fluued and said he was going to come and see us later on tonight."

"Good. I suppose we are going to have to talk to him about when we can bring Harry home," He sighed and the faintest smile played on his lips.

He did not know if he could bring himself to believe in everything that had happened to him yet.

Just hours before he had woken up in Azkaban and now he was once more a free man. He had never felt so alive in all of his life.

And the ideas were whizzing about his head faster than he was able to keep up with them.

When he had his Harry back they were going to need a house rather than a flat. The lad was going to want a garden and he was going to want a big room and he was going to buy him so many toys that he was going to think he lived in a toy shop.

And then he was going to go back to work and he was going to find Peter and he was going to make damn sure that the damned rat paid for everything he had done to them since they had been at school. He was never going to be able to hurt them again.

And he was going to take Harry to Quidditch games and he was going to do everything Prongs should do with him while never taken the place of the lad's fathers, whose memory he was going to keep every green in Harry's head.

And they were going to be best friends, he and his boy. And he was going to tuck the lad into bed every night and he was going to make sure he knew how loved he was.

Everything was going to be ok.

"I want him, Moony. I don't know if I can wait till the morning," He realised. There was so much he had planned for the two of them and they were going to have to get going soon if they were going to fit it all in before Harry had to leave to go to Hogwarts.

"At least wait till Dumbledore is here."

"You always were the sensible one Moony," Sirius nodded.

He knew it was just as surreal for Remus to have him as it was for him to be there. It had been a long time coming though.

"Sirius, I know I should really wait until you are settled, but I have to know something. If it was not you then who was it?" he had not been as close to James as Sirius had been for no one had been. The two of them had been twins separated at birth. "Who was the Secret Keeper?"

But he had loved him and he did not think he was ever going to forgive the person who had taken him away.

"Can you think of no one? No one who under other circumstances would be sitting here with you rather than me? No doubt feeding you his lies about how when he had heard about the death of James he had come after me to take his revenge, as if he could have." He said grimly.

Remus face had been blank or a moment until he realised who his fellow marauder had been referring to.

"No... But he died..."

"He cut off his finger Moony, he did not die. And he is out there still and this is all his fault; he's responsible for every bit of bad luck our family has had since and, I am minded to believe, before the war. I hate him more than I hate Snape and that is saying something. And I am not going to rest until he is where he belongs in Azkaban and I promise you, when he is put in there. There is going to be no reprisal for him after five years. Not after what he did; I am going to make sure of it."

Sirius had said it with such passion that Remus knew he could not doubt it. And it made sense.

"When did the two of you make the swap?" he understood perfectly why he had not been told about it at the time.

"The week before Halloween," Said Sirius with a guilt look and a deep sigh. "And before you ask it was my idea. I thought I was too obvious, but then at least I know had I been the Secret Keeper till the end then they would have been safe and now when I look back, I understand - that should have been everything." Sirius was only beginning to understand that he was going to carry the guilt over what he had done when he had suggested the swap green to his grave.

Knowing what he was thinking Remus reached over and patted him on the back. "Then none of this was your fault."

"All of it was my fault, Moony. Had it not been for me over thinking everything then James and Lily would still be here and I would know which Quidditch team my godson supports and whether he prefers chocolate or strawberry ice cream and whether his favourite colour is red or gold or if –" Sirius gave way to the tears again as he realised just how much he did not know about Harry and how much time they had to make up. But at least now he was out they were going to be able to do it, a small voice in his head said to him. Things were going to be fine just as soon as they were together.

"It is not going to be long now Sirius and the three of us are going to be together again as a family, I promise you," said Remus as he felt his throat go tight. Sirius had never taken anything so seriously except his duties of godfather, in which role he had ever been doting. It was painful to see him so choked up.

It was all that Sirius wanted to hear; that everything he had been longing for since he had been put into jail was going to come to him.

As the two of them sat there at the table there was a soft pop and they were aware that they had been joined by a third wizard and the greatest of their time supposedly.

"Professor." Said Sirius as he rose to greet him.

The first thing that struck the aging headmaster about the once handsome young man was the bags under his eyes. He looked as if he should sleep for a week of Sundays but there was something in those eyes that told him it was no use even suggesting that to him.

The headmaster was not stupid and he knew Black and what they were going to be talking about. As much as it was an annoyance to Dumbledore, he knew if Sirius wanted to take up his role as guardian of Harry Potter there was nothing in the world he could do to stop it as James and Lily's last will and testament clearly stated that if they were gone, then they wanted Sirius to be the primary care giver to their son.

But he had to try and make Sirius see that the best thing for the boy was to stay where he was out of the wizarding world and in the care of his aunt and uncle whose blood was going to be able to protect him better than any of them could.

As soon as he thought it though, he knew such arguments were not going to persuade the rash Sirius Black. He believed he knew what was best for the Boy Who Lived and that was what he was going to do.

"Can I say how good it is to see you back where you belong Sirius? Even if it took us all forever to release that fact. Had I known that you had made the swap, then you know I would have come to your aid a lot quicker than I did."

Sirius nodded for of that he was confident in that fact and he did not need to be told it. He had been a follower of Dumbledore in the war and he still was.

"I believe you have a very interesting tale to tell for all of those in our world who are open minded enough to listen, but then I also believe there is something a lot more pressing on your mind right now than what hundreds of people you don't know believe to be the truth about you."

He nodded. "When can I go and get Harry?"

He was not going to beat about the bush for he saw no point in it and when he was beating about it then he knew he was going to be wasting time he might be spending with the centre of his whole world; for that was what the boy had to be to him as he could not be it for his parents.

Dumbledore looked at the young man over the top of his half moon glasses and he was shocked at the changed that had taken place since he had been at Hogwarts but then he knew that was what Azkaban did to a man. He had been there more than enough times as if once was not enough, visiting prisoners when he had been aiding the ministry.

"The care of young Mr Potter is indeed what I am here to talk to you about Sirius, but maybe I might have a cup of tea first. It has been a very long if revealing day for all three of us I believe."

Remus nodded as he put the kettle on.

"Sir, you know I trust you but I fail to see what we have to talk about when it comes to Harry's care. He is coming home to me which is where he belongs," he said in a tone that told both the other men in the room that he was not for changing his mind.

But then Dumbledore knew for the sake of the sacrifice Lily Potter had made that he had to try.

"Can I explain something to you Sirius?" he asked.

"If you must sir."

"I know the deaths of your friends are still very raw for you and rightly so. Unlike so many of us, you have never been given the time you needed to grieve for Lily and James and I don't there is a man alive who was as close to them as you were. But you have to understand that now they are gone there are forces better to protect Harry than you. Lily left a blood protection spell on her son and it is only with his aunt Petunia that it will work to full effect."

But Sirius shook his head for he had heard enough. He knew he might be doing wrong but the paternal heart in him had come out in full swing and he did not want to hear it. What he wanted was the boy he loved like a son.

"I am sorry to say professor I do not believe _anything_ could protect Harry better than I could." He said determinedly with a hint of anger at the suggesting. "And I am not going to listen to this anymore. I am bringing Harry home which is my right to do as his guardian. Nothing you can say can stop me doing that." Sirius knew he sounded selfish. He knew he might be being selfish. But he was beyond caring ...

Dumbledore was crest fallen. He had thought what with the time he had spent in Azkaban so recently hanging over him that he was going to be easily persuaded. But he seemed more stubborn than he had ever before he had gone to jail.

"And if the boy is happy where he is? Are you still going to take him away?"

It was the question he had been avoiding for so long.

If Harry was happy then what was he going to do? He had been the one bright spot in his life for so long. It had been the thought of holding and seeing that little boy again that had kept him sane when he had been enduring the darkest days of his life to date.

He sighed. He did not think he was going to be able to walk away from him. Not from James's son. He wasn't afraid to admit to himself that the lad meant so much to him because of his DNA. Was that wrong? Perhaps.

But he also meant so damn much because Harry was – well, Harry. He had those great big green eyes that had a look in them that told his godfather he wanted to know everything about life he could and he had been the baby he had cradled and told stories to about his schools days when he had been months old. He had gurgled in all the right places as if to tell him he understood every word of what he had been saying to him though.

As he remembered, he thought about when he had first seen Harry; when he had seen that tiny baby he felt his heart clench. He had never fallen in love till he had been named godfather to that boy. But then he had lost his heart so utterly he knew all the lad had to say to h_im was _to jump and automatically he was going to ask him how high.

And yet if he was happy? If he turned to him and said he loved his aunt and uncle and did not wish to leave them to be with him. Where did that leave him?

The only place it possible could. Without his godson. And if Harry wanted to be there then of course he was going to leave him be, because he was going to have to.

But that thought hurt and what sort of godfather did that make him?

Did he want his godson to be so unhappy that he wanted a new home with a man he did not know? No, of course, he didn't. He wanted his godson's life to be defined by the fact it was happy from start to end. That was all he had ever wanted for him.

But the chances of that now he had lost his parents were slim. It was already marred by tragedy.

Did he wished the lad to have three homes, looked after by three different people before he was seven? No.

However, if he did not come to him then Sirius knew he might have just as well stayed in Azkaban. If he had no Harry, there was no point to being free.

Tears filled his eyes for the third time that day. It was too much for the man think about when he a just got his life back.

"If Harry is happy then naturally I will leave him be." he said to the professor without looking at him. But he turned his face upwards as he declared – "if he is unhappy however, nothing anyone could or can say will prevent me from taking him away from them."

Lily's horror stories about her sister and her fat husband came back to haunt him and somewhere inside of him, the James part of him, told him not to worry and that god father and son were going to be together soon. Indeed when they were back together, they were going to make one another very happy after the misery of the past five years.

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	3. Padfoot and His Pup

**Chapter 2**

Sirius Black was soon to learn the voice in him had been right and he did not have to worry about his godson being too happy with the Dursleys to leave him. The opposite was the truth.

As six year old Harry Potter got up for the day, he banged his head on top of the stairs misjudging where they lay, despite the fact he had been in the cupboard under the stairs, using it as his bedroom for as far back as he could remember.

Last night when he had been asleep he had been happy though. He would keep it to himself, of course, for he knew by then that Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia did not like it when he spoke about his dreams. Nothing really out of the ordinary had happened except – he had dreamt of a man with black hair and warm grey eyes. And he had been talking to him and he had been telling how much he loved him. And he had said they were going to be together soon.

He knew it was stupid. He knew no one was coming for him, a fact he had accepted on his fifth birthday, that living with the Dursleys was his fate – until he was sixteen anyway. And then he was going to run away and he was going to be happy and he was going to find someone - anyone who was going to be willing to love him in return. And then he would be part of a family. A real one, for he did not consider the Dursleys to be his family. How could he?

But the man he had dreamt of the night before had been so vivid that he had been sure he was real. It was as if he had been able to reach and touch him or he had been able to in the past.

As whenever he thought about the car crash, he wished he was able to remember a time before it and that he had not been so small when it had happened. He wished more than anything he was able to remember his parents.

His aunt and uncle never spoke of them but somehow he knew they had been good people – the best people. And he knew he had been loved when he was with them.

But that was no longer the case.

Pulling out the school uniform that was far too big for him from the shelf, he went up to the bathroom to put it on. He hated having Dudley's hand me downs but he knew better than to ask for other uniform.

He was never going to get it.

The one bright point of the morning was by the time he had got to the breakfast table Uncle Vernon had already left for Grunnings.

Breakfast turned out to be cold toast which Dudley had said he wanted but when it had come he had changed his mind and said he wanted cereal, so Aunt Petunia had had to make some more breakfast for Dudley, and had no time to make some for Harry, giving him the toast instead. Then, in true Dudley style, once Harry had had the last bite, he complained to his mother and told her he had indeed wanted the toast that Harry had now eaten (not that it had tasted very nice), so before school, Dudley had succeeded in getting a bit of his favourite show; Harry being told off.

School was slightly more bearable than being home for Harry. When they had begun at the local primary, Vernon and Petunia had requested the boys go in different classes so Harry did not disturb their sons learning. It was the only they had ever done for Harry which he was grateful for as it meant he got at least five Dursley free hours a day.

Lunchtime break was hell though. When they were safely behind the classroom door, some of his class mates would talk to him almost as if they were friends but at break that was not the case for anyone who was nice to Harry run the risk of being beaten up by Dudley and his gang. Without fail, all of the children seemed to have simultaneously decided he was not worth the risk.

After school it was back to number four where he tried to keep out of his family's way as much as he could and so he had taken to hiding in cupboard as much as he could playing absent mindedly with Dudley's long forgotten toys such as his little soldiers.

But it was also there he allowed his dreams to come to life.

Flying motorbikes! Beautiful kind women with red hair and men who laughed so heartedly together that they just had to be brothers. Best of all, they all adored him. He was always with them and they loved him just as much as he did them.

But whether they were day or night time dreams they all ended the same way. With the dreaded flash of green. He did not know why he hated it but he knew that he did and he would do anything to make those dreams last a little longer some days. In fact, he wanted them to last longer every day. He wanted to live his dreams.

Dinner was a trial that night. They had pasta but it seemed his uncle had wanted meat when he got home as he had such a bad day at work though he did not outwardly criticize his wife when they were in front of their son.

No, he just criticized Harry instead. The way he sat. The way he talked. The way he ate. All of it was wrong in the eyes of his uncle. When he finished eating his little food (as ever, Petunia had given the lions share to her son and husband) he went back to his cupboard and his dreams.

He wished and he wished and he wished that one day someone who come for him. It didn't matter who. Just someone.

Later in his life, Harry would wish he had memories of just who and what he had wished for, because that night, a bang on the door came that changed his life forever.

In the end, Dumbledore went with Remus and Sirius to Surrey. He, just like the two younger men, had had his suspicions about the way that the Boy Who Lived had been treated by his relatives though, unlike them, he had always been able to convince himself that it was best for him if he was to stay in their care.

The three wizards knowing how funny the Dursleys were about people like them had gone to the house under the cover of night fall. They were unannounced for Sirius had insisted that he got to see what sort of life his godson had really been living since they had been separated. He did not want to give his relatives time to make it appear better than it was.

Harry had been surprised to hear a knock on the door so late in the day and there was no doubt in his mind that his uncle was going to be furious at whoever it was. It wasn't really day any more. He knew it was in the dead of night and he did not know who was going to come to number four then. Who would be brave enough to make Uncle Vernon that mad?

Naturally, the six year old sat up in the cupboards and listened to the door for his curiosity was well and truly awakened.

"What the devil are you –" he heard Uncle Vernon say before he stopped dead in his track. Whoever it was he knew it had to be someone pretty impressive for his uncle to be intimidated enough to stop talking. He knew his uncle was used to being the one _doing_ the intimating.

Whoever it was, Harry James Potter knew he liked them already.

"I think you know very well why we are here just by looking at us. I want to see him!"

Harry's little heart begun to race as soon as he had heard that voice.

He did not know where from bit he knew it. He remembered it. And he had loved it once he knew he had. He still loved it... the moment he had heard it...

It was a piece of a long forgotten dream that he had once adored.

Inexplicitly, he felt he needed to get out of the cupboard and he had to see the owner of that voice.

He knew he was. Only – he didn't!

But then he also knew if he had got it wrong and he made it known he was awake, then he was going to be in so much trouble that living with Dursleys as far as he had was going to look a bit like a walk in the park.

Biting back his tears, he listened harder than he had ever listened to anything else in his entire life.

Outside of the cupboard, despite the fact he was in the hallway, Sirius Black was already looking high and low for his beloved godson. They were closer they had been in years to one another and he had to close the rest of the gap. And he had to do it as quickly as he could, for the two of them.

A pair of footsteps on the staircase above Harry told him his aunt had come down as well.

"Vernon, whats goi-"

"Well, where is he?" the voice barked harshly.

"Sirius, come on," a cooler voice said smoothly as if he was trying to keep him calm.

And Harry knew he had heard that voice too. It was if they had been part of him when he had been much younger.

And indeed they had.

"No more, Remus," said Sirius as he turned to face his best friend. He had waited long enough like a good boy and now he was doing what was right for him and for his godson. He was done doing as he was told.

Knowing how unreasonable Dursley, had always been to Lily, so much so that he and Petunia had not even bothered to show up for Lily and James's wedding, Sirius did not wait to be lead to Harry for he did not think he was going to be by that fool of a man. He was going find him on his own.

Instead, he bounded up the stairs. He opened the first door on the right, hopeful that it was going to be the door that was going to lead him to his pup.

"Where are you, darling?" he said under his breath.

Certainly not in that room. Rather than a child, there were just a lot of broken toys inside it.

Then he must sleep in with is cousin, Sirius mused, which he knew did not bode well for him. What if the two of them were close? He felt sick at the thought for he knew it was then going to be a lot less likely that he was going to leave to be with him and Moony.

Turning, he saw the first door on the left lead into the Dursleys bedroom. There was only one more shut door, the third he had seen clearly leading into the family bathroom.

Then this was it. He was going to see his godson – James's baby – for the first time in five years.

He was so excited he could barely breathe; he had missed him so much! Putting his hand gently on the door handle, he gently pushed it open instead of throwing it open as he had done when he had opened the door that lead into the to first room for when he was so sure he was going to be in there, he did not wish to alarm the little one. Not his little one.

When he got in there, he saw Harry was hiding under the covers. It did not even register in his mind that there was only boy in the room and any son of James Potter's would never hide under the duvet covers. He had it in his head that the lump on the bed was his god son and everything he had been living for so long and in that moment, he had to say that was all that mattered to him.

"Oh baby..." he said as he begun to pull back the covers.

"YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE!" A cry interrupted him from the door. Before he knew what had happened Lily's sister had come into the room and she was like a lioness, trying to get passed him to the lump on the bed.

Realising what had happened but knowing for his own peace of mind he had to check, roughly, Sirius pulled the covers away.

A large, pinked faced blonde haired boy was revealed to him and he knew there was no way that was his godson for he did not think he could ever claim responsibility for – _that_. He felt a revulsion for the boy straight away before he turned on the women.

"I swear you do not want to keep me waiting. Tell me where my Harry is." He growled as he pinned Petunia against the wall for when it came to Harry he did not think he was above anything. There was nothing he would not do.

There was a sick feeling in his stomach and he knew something was wrong here. He had to know what it was.

Very wrong indeed.

"Where - is - Harry?" he barked.

"Mummy," the boy on the bed whimpered.

"Its ok duddykins!" she said to him with a smile and it was then Sirius knew he could not do it.

He was not Voldemort and he was not going to harm a mother in front of her child.

He couldn't.

Instead, he turned from the room furiously, rushing down the stairs where Remus, Dumbledore and Vernon still stood.

Ignoring all three of the men, he went into the living room trying to look for inspiration. He knew his pup was there, he knew it, he could feel him so close and yet he had looked in all of the bedrooms and he had not been there.

So if he wasn't upstairs then, where was he?

He looked about the living room and his thoughts were broken for it was not just that there was an absence of Harry upstairs.

There was not a trace of the boy anywhere.

Petunia obviously liked to have pictures up for portraits and pictures of herself, Dudley and Vernon lined every wall but there was not a single indication that Harry had ever been there. Not one picture.

What if he had got it wrong? What if Dumbledore was lying? What if Harry was still a million miles away?

"Oh pup." He said in despair as he sat on the couch and finally seemed to admit defeat for a moment. He was a broken man. Having not found Harry when he had gone into the house hurt him more than Azkaban ever could have, even if he had been guilty.

Where was he? He knew he was letting James and Lily down so badly and that was the last thing he wanted to do.

He did not know what to do or where to go from there. He could check the kitchen but he did not think he was going to be able to take another disappointment at that moment and if he wasn't careful, then he was going to be put in jail again. He had to keep calm. He had to hold his nerve. But his blood was boiling...

All he wanted to do was to see his godson. Why was that such an unreasonable request?

In the mean time, Harry sat frustrated in the cupboard. Why had it gone so quiet suddenly and why was the man not checking the cupboard. He knew his Uncle Vernon was just outside of the door with the other men it sounded like. He knew all their voices from... somewhere.

"Mr Dursley, please tell us where Harry is? We just want to know he is ok?" a cool voice said. It was laced with both years and wisdom.

"I will not tolerate any of you in house any longer. Have you not disturbed my wife and child enough? Go! Get out!" he ordered but Harry knew that was going to have no effect.

"That did not answer my question Mr Dursley."

No, it did not thought his nephew venomously from behind the door. All they wanted to do was to see him and he wanted to know why. He had to get out of there. He had to see them!

And so he had a split second decision to make. Did he let his first chance of freedom for years go or did he alert them to his present and risk the wrath of his uncle?

It had to be worth a go, didn't it?

And so instead of sitting quietly as he had been doing so this far, he begun to bang on the door.

He had to get out. He felt suddenly very claustrophobic.

"PLEASE LET ME OUT!" he cried desperately, and it was as he said those words that he really did begin to cry and to big boulders of tears dropped on to his cheeks. "PLEASE –E- LET ME OUT-T!"

It was those words that brought Sirius back from the edge. He had been so close to going over it, after all he had been through since he had lost James and just like that Harry saved him without knowing it.

He turned to the hallway for he was sure the voice had come from that direction.

When he got there he saw Vernon had gone almost purple and Remus had a horrified looki on his face as he struggle to open the latch on the cupboard under the stairs.

"Harry kiddo, come on where are you?" he almost yelled even though he was so close – he just had to know he was there. But he did not want to accept that his... his godson was being treated like - like that!

"IN HERE!"

He knew it as soon as he had seen Remus trying to open the door but he had been praying it was not true. In fact he would have done anything for it not to be true.

But it was.

Throwing a look that could have struck him dead, Sirius pushed Vernon away so he and Remus could be the first things Harry saw when the door opened. He did not want that man anywhere near Harry. Though he was fuming, he was still only too are of the fact that he did not wish his godson to fear him. That was no way to begin their new relationship he wanted for the two of them.

When the door opened, even if he had not been told it was Harry then, he knew he would have known him for his godson. _God, he looks so like his father,_ was his only thought.

He was looking at a mini James. A mini upset James.

He had so many emotions in his eyes. Too many emotions for one so small to have to deal with.

When the door opened, Harry could not believe it. Two men were there but the first one took his breathe away for he had been the man he had seen the night before when he had been asleep. He was the man from the dream. The kind man with the grey eyes who had said he was going to come for him and he had. He had kept his world.

Harry's tears stopped for a moment as he tried to take it in that his dream had true and he was really there.

Perhaps too eagerly, the man leaned forward and pulled him out of the cupboard for it killed Sirius to see his godson kept in such a fashion. He was perhaps a little more forceful than he had wanted to be and had moved quicker than he should have...but he had to get him out of there. He had _had_ too! That was understandable, wasn't it?

The two of them looked at one another and Harry tried to place him in his memories because he _knew_ he had seen him before. He knew it in his bones, in his very heart, he knew this man.

And he was a good man.

"Oh, Harry, it is so good to see you," he had not seen so much affection in someone's eyes for him in years.

He did not know his name, his age, anything about this man. But he knew he was all he wanted and all he had wanted for so long. So when the man leaned forward to hold him in his arms, he let him. In fact, he did not just let him but when he had picked him up, he tightly clung on to him as if he was a life line which Sirius had unknowingly been for the buried little face in his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry," sobbed Harry as he tried to control himself, only to find he could not. He had learnt a long time ago when he had been young that no matter what happened to him, he must not cry for it never got him anywhere. It never helped his case with Vernon and Petunia.

But this seemingly uncommonly kind man who had come into his life exactly when he had needed him the most did not seem to mind.

"Don't you dare say sorry. It's me that's sorry, Harry. I should have been here for you so much sooner than I was. But I am here now, pup, and it is all going to be ok."

Sirius did not think he was ever going to get over what he had just seen. A young lad, a tiny little boy using a cupboard as a bedroom. He would not treat an animal the way and that was the way the Dursleys had treated Harry. His Harry. Sirius' hand found his godsons hair and he smoothed down the ends as he cuddled him close. He was not ever going to let him go... not ever.

He looked up at his old teacher and it was at that moment that Dumbledore knew that everything Sirius had said in the flat was off. Even if Harry begged to stay which did not seem very likely, he was still going to drag him away. He was going to give him a real home once more.

"I am here for you now and I am never going to leave you again." He said with so much passion in his voice that Harry had to believe him, he had no other choice.

Sirius was a link to the past he had never known. He said he had missed him and Harry knew he had not been in contact with him since he had been with his aunt and uncle. That meant he knew he must have known him when he had been with his mummy and daddy.

Sirius knew he had to tell the lad who he was and he knew he was confused. Rightly so. Harry was about to go through a lot of changes for such a young boy but if he was anything like his father which he already seemed to be, then he knew he could take it. And Harry did not seemed to care who he was by the way he was burying his face in his shoulder, like a little animal nestling into its mother.

"Do you know who I am?" he said, as he pulled back from Harry realising tears were on both of their faces.

Harry shook his head not sure he even cared.

"I know you're good." He said to him. It went without saying that that was enough for him.

Sirius beamed.

"I am. But more importantly, Harry, I am your godfather," he said softly. "And I have been away, but I'm back now, I'm back for good. And if you will let me, I am going to look after you. I will look after you, beautiful little boy, forever."

It was all the young lad had wanted to hear for so long and he could not help but think this man who had come was a dream come true. He had been everything he had ever wanted in about two minutes.

Harry did not need to know any more.

He just wanted to have a chance at a new life.

"Right Moony, then I think we are ready for the off." Sirius said as he continued to hold on to his godson both tightly and tenderly. His eyes scanned the cupboard but there did not seem to be anything of great value to Harry in there for he had forgotten it already it seemed.

No, when they we got back to the flat he was going to be able to work out what Harry needed and then he would get it for him. He did not want any bad memories of the past with them when they begun there new life. Everything was going to be new – unless he was able to find out what had happened to the toys and blankets Lily and James's had got for him when he was a baby. And photos. Lots and lots of photos of all of them.

Remus looked as if a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders for the first time in years and there was a real smile on his face as he saw James's son back in Sirius' arms. It was where he belonged.

A lot more suddenly seemed right with the world. And he knew they were going to come through it together, the three of them. Once more they were a family.

Just as they were going to go out of the door though Sirius turned back and with a sneer on his face he remarked causally, "don't get too comfortable Dursley. Me and you are going to be needing a little chat soon."

And with that remark, Harry Potter was whisked out of the door and into a Dursley free life.

_Please review!_


	4. The Limitations of Magic

**Chapter 3**

That night was nothing if not a whirl wind for every single person involved. When they had got up that morning, Vernon and Petunia Dursley had been the main care givers of two boys and not one. Forty eight hours before had, Remus Lupin had lived alone – now he had not only one flat mate, but two – and one of them a rather little one.

On their return from Surrey, Dumbledore decided it was going to be best if he were to leave the two marauders and the little marauder to one another for a while; he would see them the next day to talk through how everything was going to work now. After all, it was not as if Harry Potter was a normal little boy.

Despite what Sirius Black seemed to believe, he was going to need protection asides from himself.

Yet the events of those few hours affected no one as much as they did Harry James Potter. He had willing gone away with someone from his aunt and uncles after speaking a handful of sentences. He had not even talked to Remus. All he did know was that when they had been alive, his parents had known these men. And that was good enough for him.

Maybe it was because he had been the one he had dreamt of the night before or he had been the one he had seen first when he had opened the cupboard; or because he had been the one his parents had named as his godfather but as soon as they left number four, it became quite apparent that Sirius was the one Harry wanted to be with rather than Remus, who he had to admit, he did feel slightly guilty for perhaps pushing out of the lime light a little.

Somewhere inside of him Harry had known he was going to come, Sirius told himself. He had known it.

Nevertheless, Harry was quite tired by the time they were driving home. Remus and Sirius had spoken about it and they thought the right thing to do was drive to Privet Drive to get Harry. They had no idea how much he knew about who he was and where he had come from and they had not wanted to over load him. Not on the first night.

And so while Remus drove them from Surrey to London, Harry had sat in the backseat next to his newly found godfather. Sirius had not even known it was possible to feel the amount of relief that he did. The hurts of the years he had suffered of late seem to melt away as he put arm round the boy.

It was quite apparent that the boy was nothing if not bewildered by everything that had happened to him in the last few hours and yet for a reason he did not think he was able to explain to himself he had not felt so safe – in forever.

The man who had got him out of the cupboard – did he say his name was Sirius? – had kept one arm about him all the time they had been together and he had to say he liked that. He liked the feeling that after all this time someone was there for him and he knew Sirius was not going to leave him. He just knew it.

And it was a comfort.

His eyes were glazing over as they drove through the streets. Both adults knew they had a very tired boy on their hands. Harry was clearly fighting it though.

"You can go to sleep you know Harry." said Sirius to him.

Harry look up at him with huge innocent eyes. He did not know what to say to him or what was going to happen to them now. All he knew was that he trusted him. He really did.

Nodding silently, Harry leaned into Sirius. He did not want to think anymore. It was giving him a headache.

"Did you know my mummy and my daddy?"

"Yes pup. I knew them very well."

Harry nodded and leaned even further against him though it was tentatively. Harry was not used to this. Humans giving him affection, adults being there for him.

"Not long now Harry," said Remus from the front of the car. As soon as they got in, they were going to have to put him to bed.

Catching Sirius' eyes in the mirror, Remus smiled. Their thoughts were along the same lines. That a lot more was suddenly right with the world.

Despite the fact he had only been with them for a couple of hours, Harry was happy enough to fall asleep in Sirius' arms. The exhausted six year old was carried into the flat by his godfather.

Sirius thought he was going to die of happiness. Though the treatment of his godson was gnawing away inside of him, he could suppress those thoughts successfully by comforting himself that Harry was back with them. And as long as he was with them then he was going to be safe.

He was always going to keep him safe and he was never going to allow anything to hurt his boy.

Not James' boy.

He loved him too much to see him hurt.

Sirius had indeed been planning to put his godson straight to bed when they had got in but as soon as they got through the door that plan changed. He had been apart from the boy for five years, the longest most miserable years of his life.

And suddenly he was living again. He had his boy and he had his friend and he was alive. He had forgotten what it felt to be so alive.

Knowing that he and Remus were going to stay up for a while anyway, he carried Harry into the living room and put him on the sofa. He was no yet ready to let him out of his arms or his eye sight.

"We did it," Said Remus as it had only just sunk in that they were back with Harry now they were home. After so long of waiting for this day, the werewolf, as Sirius had been when he had got his call out of Azkaban was mistrusting.

But there he was as clear as day. Their best friend's boy was with them. Harry had come home. Sirius had come home. For the first time in years they were _all_ home.

"We really did Moony." Said Sirius as his hand run down Harry's cheek. He had to keep checking the boy was real. "And what is more we are going to keep at it – keep doing it."

They were going to raise Harry to be everything his father had been then and just a little more. He was going to be part of his mother and his father. Remus had no doubt that some of Sirius was going to sink into him as well. But then that was ok. Sirius could be a jerk, but then so could anyone. And Remus knew from the look on his face he had every intention of giving his godson the best of him.

"I am going to go and make the two of us a tea." He knew Sirius would not care if he stayed but part of him felt as if he was intruding on the two of them. After all, it had been Sirius who had been named godfather when Harry had been born and he knew no matter how much Sirius said they were going to raise Harry together, he was always going the boys guardian. It was also only because Sirius was finally out that the two of them had even been able to go and get him. Had Sirius still been in Azkaban, then the three of them would still be thousands of miles apart for years to come.

And that was the last place that any of them wanted to be. After years and years in the wilderness, they had come together.

So no, Remus had to say he was thoroughly grateful to his friend, and that was the reason he felt he had to back off, because if the truth was known then he knew this was Sirius' moment with Harry, not his. And there was not a bone in his body that resented that; there really wasn't.

Every time Sirius looked at his godson it shocked him just how much he looked like his dad.

He had not felt so happy in years and for the first time since he had lost James, Sirius begun to feel the overwhelming grief he had been plagued with lift off of his shoulders just a little bit. He had thought it was always going to hurt, yet the pain dimmed as he held on to his godson. It was there; but suddenly, the pain became bearable.

Harry was everything he had wanted for so long.

Ten minutes later Remus returned into the room with tea. Sitting opposite the other two, he sighed.

"He is going to be so confused when he does wake up you do know that?" Remus warned.

Sirius nodded. He knew Harry had come with him on a bit of a whim… though he did not doubt that no matter when he had gone that he would have always left his aunt and uncle to be with him.

"But he is good boy and he is going to be able to work through it," Said Sirius as he smiled softly. He had the expression of a father who was looking down on his new born baby son for the very first time.

"Well, you are going to have to be really patience with him. We are going to have to take it slowly. It's not as if we are going to be able to introduce him to magic over night and we are going to have to be careful about how we _do _introduce him to it."

"He is going to love it." Sirius shook his head.

Remus knew he was eager to get going and raise Harry to be the boy his father and mother wanted him to be. But he knew he had to pace Sirius. He was so excitable. Yet somehow they were going to rub along and get it right.

They had too.

Remus had been right, for when Harry woke up the next day he had to pause a moment to remember why he was not in the cupboard. And then he remembered the events of the night before.

The grey eyed man and his friend had come to get him and he had taken him away from his aunt and his uncle. And he had been kind to him.

The last thing he remembered from the night before were the lights going by in the car.

He hadn't meant to go to sleep. In fact, he had wanted to stay up till they were back at the men's flat. But he guessed he had been more tired than he thought he had been.

He looked about the room, for that was what it was. These two men had not put him in a cupboard that was for sure. No, he was in a big bed, like the one his aunt and uncle had. He knew his cousin just had a single. He had slept in a bed bigger than Dudley's!

Running a hand throw his already messing hair he sighed and wondered if he was going to wake up in a minute. But it really seemed to be real.

All of it.

He got out of bed for as soon as he remembered all that had happened the night before; he knew he was far to awake to sleep. He had to get out of bed and make sure they were really real, for until he had seen those two men he did not think he was going to be able to get any rest, even if he did have no plans of going back to bed. He needed to see them for his own peace of mind.

He wanted the proof it was not a fairy tale or a figment of his imagination.

He went out of the open down into the hall way and he had a smile on his face. He was in a new place but from the moment he had got there he felt safer than he ever had at the Dursleys.

He knew he was going to have a good time there straight away. This flat was his home in a way Number Four had never been.

He tried to walk quietly for he wanted them to think that he was a good boy even if his aunt and uncle had already told him otherwise. The last thing he wanted for them to do was to change their minds and send him home, but his naked feet patted against the wood disregarding his wishes.

He peeped into what he guessed was the living room. Looking at the clock, he guessed as the big hand was on the six and the little one was between the seven and the eight that it was half past seven in the morning, about the time on a normal day that he got up and went to school.

He wondered if he was going to have to go to school, now he had moved house. He wondered if he was going to a new one. He was quite a way away from Little Whinging he knew.

He hoped he didn't have to go. He wanted to stay right where he was and not leave ever again.

He had been about to walk into the living room when he changed his mind for on the sofa there was the grey eyed man not that you'd know it right then for his eyes were shut. He had an expression on his face that was the perfect mixture of sorrow and great joy. Harry wondered what had happened to him to make him sad. He did not seem like the sort of man who should be sad but rather one who should always have a smile on his face.

Maybe it was because he had been hypnotized by the fact he had been there at all the night before and he had been so focused on the colour of his eyes but it was only then that he saw the man had very big bags under them. It was as if he had not slept properly in a very long time.

Not wishing to disturb him, Harry wondered away from the room and into the kitchen, wondering what to do and when the men were going to get up for he had a lot of questions for them both. But then they were going to rise in their own time and he did not wish to get them up before.

The kitchen was not quite big as his aunt's was; in fact, the flat was a lot smaller than number four. The stark contrast between the two residences seemed to reflect even further how far away he was from his old life.

Rather than be spotless as the Dursley kitchen was, the dinner plates that his godfather and his friend had used the previous night were still on the side waiting to be washed as were two coffee mugs.

In Harry's eyes the dirt was wonderful.

It was all wonderful.

The six year old felt he might jump for joy.

His whole life had been leading him to this point. He was sure of it – this was where his mum and dad would have wanted him to be if he was with their friends, right?

He was home.

He had been about to sit down when he realized that he needed a drink. Moving one of the dining room chairs over to the sink, he got up on it to turn on the tap. Successfully guessing which of the kitchen cupboards had the glasses in it, one was soon filled with water to clench the little boy's thirst.

But when he made to get out of the stool he wobbled and before he had had a chance to stop it the glass had fell out of his hands and the shards of it danced across the kitchen floor.

Sirius had been asleep when he heard the smash; though not so asleep it did not wake him up. He did not think he was ever going to be a very deep sleeper again. After all, he had a child to look after and he had lived through a war. When he had last been at large if you heard a sound like that at night you did not think twice in the middle of the night. You got your wand out because the chances were it was a Death Eater.

And so trained was he that that was what he did then.

It was as if the moment he had heard it he was cast back in time. It was as if James was alive.

Was this a joke Prongs was playing on him? If it was then he was going to make sure his best friend knew it was not funny.

He had been about to go into the kitchen with his wand held out to threaten who was in there but as he poked his head in he was brought back to earth with an almighty bump.

It was not James who was in the kitchen, though it could have been him if he had had shrinking potions.

But no it wasn't. It was his godson. And as he had been when he had picked him up the night before, he was in tears and something had happened to him to give him the expression as if it was the end of the world and he cursed him to the high heavens because everything he had said had come to nothing. Harry was upset in his care already.

"Hey buddy. What are all the tears about?" he said as he stuffed his wand back into his pocket. Remus was right – he did not want to over load the lad – and he looked as if he was reaching braking point already.

He was about to go into the kitchen when he was joined by Moony, apparently not the only one in the house who was a light sleeper.

The two of them exchanged a worried glance before Sirius rushed into the room. Luckily he looked down and saw the problem before he felt it.

"I'm sorry!" said Harry to him.

Sirius shook his head as he leaned over to take the boy back into his embrace, relieved that it had been no more than a broken glass. After all, glasses were nothing if not replaceable. They were nothing at all like a godson.

Moony to had a look of relief that Harry did not quite understand; he knew had he been back with his aunt and uncle, that he would have gotten told off, not a cuddle.

"That is not a problem little man, no problem at all." Sirius' said to him comfortingly.

In another echo of the night before Harry hide in his godfather's neck as he picked him up. He had been back in his life no more than twelve hours and yet it was more than apparent that it had not only been him who had been longing for the other for so long, even if it was subconsciously for Harry.

Sitting down on the on one of the seats about the kitchen table, he rocked the boy back and forth as Remus cleared up the mess.

"Don't you dare let your little head worry over this, mate." Said Sirius as he held on to him. "It doesn't matter one little bit."

Remus looked at them sadly. He knew if James had lived then Harry would know this was nothing to get upset about. Lily would perhaps scowl a little but a wave of a wand later and it would be fixed.

Yet, both he and Sirius knew it was too soon for that. Far too soon. Even if he had one in his pocket, emotionally, there was no magic wand to help them.

"Uncle Vernon said it was bad when I did stuff like that," Harry said as his voice dropped lower and lower. "He yelled at me... and I didn't like it," Harry confided in his godfather his voice so small it had dropped to a whisper. A deep, low protective growl came out of Sirius before he could stop it, furious at the thought of anyone yelling at his godson. Harry seemed so small.

Even though Sirius seemed to love him as he had always dreamed someone would he still did not know why. Still, he was so scared that this new life was going to end as suddenly as it had begun that he did not ask. That Sirius did care was enough.

"Then do you know what I think?" Remus said from across the table. "I think your uncle is a bad man and a liar, and you don't have to worry about him anymore because Sirius and I here are going to make sure you never had to see him again."

That was a thought that made Harry calmer and he raised a smile…

"You listen to him Harry." said Sirius agreeing as he squeezed the lad lovingly. "Remus was always the smart one even when we were at school. And he doesn't lie," Sirius said before whispering in Harry's ear. "Except when there is a bad smell and he says it wasn't to do with him. Don't let Moony near the baked beans Harry!"

Sirius had been told that laughter was the best tonic for anything when he had been young and it was at that moment as a smile spread across his godson face that he knew it was the truth.

More than anything, now they had Harry they were going to have to make him laugh… every day if they could. For the laughter made the tears stop and when he had calmed down Harry looked curiously across at Remus.

"Why did Sirius call you Moony?"

It was a very good question and one both of the marauders knew they were not going to be able to answer fully that day. But it also proved to them both he had the same quick mind both his mother and his father had possessed. This boy was a Potter through and through there was no doubting it.

"Because in this house," Sirius explained. "We all have to have nicknames, his is Moony. My name is Padfoot and your nickname is going to be pup. Is that ok with you, pup?"

Harry nodded.

"Now how about we get you something to drink and eat?"

"Yes please Padfoot," said Harry. Sirius had never loved the sound of his own name so much as when his godson called him by it.

It was that day that the enormity of the job Remus and Sirius had to do dawned on them. Though they got the feeling not a lot scared Harry, by the end of the day they were in doubt that them getting angry at him did scare him and it was quite obvious that while Harry loved being with them and took all the cuddles he was offered both by Remus and Sirius, he was not relaxed about them at all. He seemed to think if he let his guard down then he was indeed going to put a foot wrong and nothing in his eyes could be worse.

As a result, Sirius was not sure he had met his real godson by the end of that twenty four hours. He had met a lovely, affectionate polite young lad by no mistakes. But he did not think he was the boy he should have been. It didn't mean that Sirius did not love his godson though; that was the furthest thing from the truth imaginable. Indeed he loved Harry as passionately as he had been on the day he had been declared godfather. But he just didn't understand why it was so hard for a six year old to sit on the floor and play with him, for when he had tried to; Harry had been stiff through the whole game of snap.

It seemed Harry just simply didn't understand _how_ to play. And that brought it home to Sirius how important it was that he had a little chat with his aunt and uncle.

But it was going to have to wait, because even if he did want to beat the crap out of Dursley, he had to focus on Harry before everything and everyone else.

Harry did as he was told; Harry ate what was put in front of him; and all in all Sirius was glad when he got to bed so he and Remus could discuss the situation.

"Whatever they did to him they took all of his spirit," Remus sighed as he sat down on the sofa.

"They didn't take it, Moony. They just buried it. It's our job to get it out again," Sirius sighed as he made a list everything they were going to need.

Clothes, toys, food Harry actually liked and wanted to eat... if he was ever going to be able to get him to tell him. Dinner time had been an experience if nothing else.

"He did not ask for one thing the entire day." Sirius said with great frustration. He needed all the patience in the world and yet he had always had minimal amounts.

Sirius looked at Remus and he knew how hurt by everything Remus had been. "I feel so responsible Sirius; if I wasn't Moony once a month then none of this would have happened... if only I could have..."

"No Remus, no one blames you for any of this. If it is anyone's fault, then its mine. If I had kept my head on that Halloween night then I would have been able to start bringing Harry up a lot sooner than I have. But really this is down to three people; Petunia Dursley, Vernon Dursley, and Peter bloody Pettigrew."

Sirius put the quill he had been using down and sighed. He hadn't meant to swear or get so wound up but the fact was he could not stop it. As much as he had been denying it, he had needed his spirited happy godson to put him back together. He had needed Harry to be the strong one for him. And now he found it was the other way round.

"From tomorrow, a new set of rules." He said to Remus. "Tomorrow we bring in magic." He sighed. He had gone day without it and he had hated it. It was hardly a surprise when he had been without it for so long already.

It was time to play by his rules.

They had just been about to go to bed, when as they had been two nights previously they were joined by Albus Dumbledore.

Deep down Sirius knew the headmaster was the last person in the world he wanted to see right then. He knew when the professor had placed his godson in the care of the Dursleys he had done it because he had thought it was for the best and he believed he had done it to protect Harry, not to bring him to any harm.

But that did not change the fact that had happened.

It must have been written on his face because the headmaster looked apprehensively at the animagus.

"Sirius."

"Headmaster."

Remus and Dumbledore nodded there greeting to one another and then a silence took the room in which it became obvious to Albus that perhaps he was not as welcome as he would have liked to have been.

"How has Harry been today?" he asked.

"Putting a brave face on everything but deep down I know he is scared of going back." Sirius said with a protective growl. He was not going to let it happen, but that alone did not stop the fear.

Remus was beginning to understand just how much Harry really was Sirius' pup and how much he was willing to do to protect him. He was going to defend him against any one and anything if he had too. And if he saw the aging headmaster as a threat then he was going to keep Harry away from him, even if Dumbledore meant no harm.

"Well that is understandable. It was a big day for him."

"It was for us all." Remus agreed.

When Harry got up the next morning, he was surprised to see that the shards of the glass he had broken the day before were back on the table when he had thought Moony had put them in the bin. Sirius had been sure to get up at six. He had not wanted a repeat of the previous morning with Harry being the first one up.

He looked with concern at the glass for he did not like to remember when he had done bad things but still Sirius did not look angry at him.

Rather, he kept smiling at him in a way that was comforting beyond words.

"Come here Harry," he said gently and the lad, as he had done the day before, did just as he was told and was soon perched on Sirius' lap.

He noticed a brown stick by the side of the glass.

"What is it? Am I in trouble?" he said.

The fact that he always assumed the worse was something else Sirius intended to stop.

"None at all. It's just, yesterday, Padfoot didn't tell you something which I really want you to understand." He said explained. "Harry... it'll be a little weird a first... but I'm sure you'll like it. Pup, if I told you I could do magic what would you say?"

Harry looked thoughtful perform declaring; "That's really, really cool!"

Sirius had to laugh. Even more than the way he looked, that reaction marked him out as James's son.

Remus watched from the doorway as Harry saw magic performed for the first time in his living memory. A look of amazement covered his face as after a wave of Sirius' wand, the shattered glass was once again made whole.

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	5. Revelations

**Chapter 4**

If within the twelve four hours Harry was first with them Remus and Sirius, they had quickly become has favourite people in the world, nothing changed when they showed him they were magic in the figurative as well as the literal sense of the word.

Sirius and Remus were quick to explain they were not the only wizards in the world; in fact Harry was soon to learn there was a huge community of them living in Britain, but he was sure none of them were as magical as the two he lived with.

As they talked to Harry about it, he had become more comfortable on his godfathers lap and he sat there with his head resting against Sirius' chest, his tiny hand covering the much bigger one of the man he was already unconditionally loyal too.

"So, you are both wizards?" he said to Remus who nodded.

"Yes," He nodded as Harry broke down what they had said to him to the bare basics. The cogs in his tiny mind were turning faster than they ever had before.

"And you went to a magic school, and you went to school with my mummy and daddy?"

Sirius and Remus beamed at one another as Harry figured everything out.

"Yes we did."

"So does that mean my daddy and mummy were wizards too?"

Sirius beamed. He was so proud of him.

"Yes, it does – and when two people who are magical have a baby, then the baby is generally magical. Has anything funny ever happened about you Harry? Anything you weren't sure how happened?"

Harry had been very perceptive so far. He had picked up a lot of the answers for himself. He had not had to be told. So he realised what Sirius was insinuating very quickly.

He thought of the things that his uncle and aunt had called him a freak for. He thought of every time he had somehow been safe from Dudley and his gang when there was no explanation. He thought of the time when the bruise from aunts Marge's stick had healed quickly. And his dreams. The flying motorbikes. The way he had known who Sirius was before he had even met him.

And the green light. He knew that was connected to everything he had just heard.

"It means I am a wizard too." He said quietly as it dawned on him.

Harry noticed the way that Sirius was looking at him, once more the proud father. When he had been with his aunt and uncle he had always been taught that to be different was to be bad. He had been out of their grasp for just a few days and his own ideas were forming about that.

If Remus and Sirius were wizards then they had to be good.

They just had to be.

"Yes it does, little man," Remus nodded as he reached over and took Harry's hand as the news sank in.

Harry looked as if he was happy about it but it confused him as well, as it did any muggle born child. Harry may have been born to magical parents, but so far he had lived the life of a muggle born; that ended that day.

"What are you thinking Harry?" asked Remus. He looked at Sirius and he knew his best friend had been hoping for a bit more of a reaction than that. So had he. But then when he looked at Harry and he saw clear confusion on his face, he knew that he was not saying anything not because he was trying to be awkward but because he just did not know what to say.

And he couldn't blame him.

"Well, you what, young man? Why don't you go and set up for the game of snap and me and Sirius can get some drinks to bring through," said Remus with a smile knowing that he had to talk to his best friend.

Harry nodded, jumped off of his godfathers lap and then walked into the living room leaving an exasperated Sirius in his wake.

"I thought he might at least cheer or ask more questions_." _

"I think given what he has been through over the last few days he had been asking plenty of questions."

Sirius sighed. He wondered twhat had happened to him was going to stop affecting him. When he had thought of Harry when he had been in jail he had thought about the two of them going to Quidditch games and hanging out at Diagon alley and laughing all the time together.

Yet nothing had gone to plan.

"This is going to take a lot of time."

"I know, Moony. I know."

But it felt to Sirius like torture. He had spent so much time apart from Harry that he felt as if all the time when they were together they should be making up for it and having fun together. As much as he knew he was going to support his godson rain or shine, he knew perhaps he was lying to himself when he said he was really ready to cope.

Whether he was or not thought was almost insignificant though. He had too.

Soon, the two men, coffee in hand as well as a orange juice for their young charge, had headed into the living room where the cards had been dealt out into three piles, when a smile crept back on too Sirius' face.

"What if we play snap the magical way Harry?" said Sirius as he knelt down by him and put his arm about him and smiled to put confidence into the boy. But that was the one thing that Harry was seriously lacking.

Now that he knew what he was though, Sirius had to show him. Not only was magic useful, it could be a lot of fun.

With a wave of a wand the muggle cards were gone replaced by the wizarding ones.

That morning was yet another first Sirius witnessed; Harry's first game of exploding snap. He had been there for many before. And he had no doubt there were still many to come. Sirius was going to make sure from that day on he was going to be there for everyone of them.

Despite his nerves, Harry seemed to come out of his shell a little and there was lots of laughing.

Despite the fact it was obvious he loved Remus for the part he had played in freeing him from the hell that had been life with his aunt and uncle, after they had told Harry just who he was, he once again clung to Sirius. Pup seemed to be a rather apt name for him now.

Sirius found he was best with Harry when they were doing things that echod his babyhood when they had last been together. For example, when he and James had got back from the Auror office to the Potters, sometimes, James and Lily had needed to talk and so he had taken over bath time as part of his godfatherly duties. By the time the lad had been six months, it was all in a day's work for Sirius.

And so they had bath time that night, impressively Sirius thought by half eight. Harry was still quiet, despite the fact he had brightened up when they had been playing together.

"You ok buddy?" he said as he carried him back to what he had thought was going to be his room on his first night back from jail. When his boy had got back though, the choice to give it to him had been only too easy. Even if the sofa was not the most comfortable place in the world to bed down for the night it was a lot better than Azkaban.

Harry nodded.

"You know no matter what it is you can ask or tell me? I am never going to be mad at you for telling me something which is worrying you," he told Harry.

He seemed so small in his pyjamas in the big bed.

Harry nodded as his godfather sat next to him on the bed and put his arm about him.

"Padfoot?"

"Yes?"

"Can you tell me about my mummy and daddy?"

Sirius looked at him, knowing he should have been waiting for that question. For the first time since he had been very tiny, Harry was with people who had known his mother and his father very well; people they had loved and been loved by. Sirius had no doubt in his mind that he had no stories of his mother and father from his aunt and uncle.

It was only natural that he wanted to know a lot more than he did about Lily and James.

"Of course I can buddy. Who would you like to hear about first?"

Harry shrugged.

"Well why don't you make your mind up while I go and get you a hot chocolate and bring Moony back with me? He knows some great stories about your mother and father as well."

While he was getting the boy a drink he and Remus briefed one another on what they were going to stick to that night. The lighter pranks they had pulled when they had been at school and how in love Lily and James were and how much they had loved him from the moment they had learned they were having a baby.

No lies, but then they wanted to protect him from what was the harsher side of his parents life. All he had to know for then was that he had always, _always_ been wanted and loved.

"Who first then?" said Sirius as he sat back down, chocolate on the bed side table and Remus lying at Harry's feet, stretched lazily out. Sirius soon had his arm back about Harry scooting him close.

"Daddy."

Sirius smiled. He had to say he had loved Lily as a sister but there was never going to be another James for him that was for sure. Out of the two of them, for him, it was James who was utterly irreplaceable – even by his son.

And when it came to stories about James he knew he was a bottomless well which was what his godson was going to need as he grew up.

"Well, let me think then little man. What can I tell you about your daddy?" he sighed. He wanted to tell him everything all at once. "He was good; and he was brave, and he loved playing practical jokes. And he got in lots and lots of trouble when he was at school."

"A lot of that was admittedly Padfoot's fault though." Said Remus with a wink.

"It was down to the two of us." Sirius conceded. "But he was a great man Harry. And he loved being a dad."

"Did he?" Harry whispered. That was the first thing he had wanted to hear.

Part of him said he shouldn't, because his aunt and his uncle had told him what he was. He was a bad egg. He was not worth it. But when he had thought of his parents, they had always loved to him in his head.

And to hear Sirius say he had been wanted made it real. And ever since he had been at the flat he had felt wanted to. He didn't understand it. Why was it one pair of adults hated him so much and yet he was so loved by another?

"Are you kidding, Harry? Buddy, you were everything to your dad. Absolutely everything, you as well as your mum."

Sirius could only hope that it went unsaid that it went for him too. He knew his godson was feeling all shaken up. But he hoped he was getting to know him a little too.

"Did she want me too?"

"Of course she did. I saw mummy and daddy on the day that she told him that they were going to have you and they were even happier on that day than when they had got married. The loved you and one another very much."

Harry nodded. "Though mummy was a little stricter than daddy was. She got annoyed at him when he pulled pranks."

This second mention of the trouble his father had cause over the years could not fail to sparks Harry's interest.

"Did he pull them on her then?" he asked with a cheeky smile that was so like the one his father had once worn it brook Sirius's heart all over again.

"Yes he did. Whenever he could in fact. She didn't thank him for it but I think deep down it was part of your dad's playfulness that made her love him as much as she did."

For any other six year old the thought of their parents being so deeply in love would have been considered gross. But for Harry his mum and dad were like mystical, almost mythical people. People from long ago.

And they enchanted him thoroughly.

He did not know if it made him happy or sad. Happy because the people he was being told about were the people he had always known in his heart or sad because he had no memories.

"I miss them!" he said quite suddenly. He did not think he had a right too. Not when he was with people who knew and had loved them so dearly. And who remembered them. But it was the truth. He had never known them as they had. Except in his heart and in the most imaginative place in his mind.

But instead of telling him he was wrong to miss them, Remus merely nodded. "I know you do. And so do we. And we can talk about them any time you want to. They are never going to be so far away from you now Harry."

He had known that. It was odd how they were still dead but he felt so much closer to them than he had ever before even though they were still far away from one another.

But the distance had changed.

"I wish it had never happened. I wish they had never died. I want them to be here with us right now." said Harry and for the first time since he had been with his godfather and his new uncle he showed something other than submissiveness. There was a fire in him and an anger that they had been taken from him when he had been so young.

He had seen the other kids with their mum and dad's and he knew he had been bad but he did not think that he was really much worst them some of the others. If he had been then Sirius and Remus would not have come to get him would they?

If he had been bad then they wouldn't have wanted him.

Sirius and Remus exchanged a surprised looked. After all they had been so careful to avoid mentioning the darker side of magic. They had not wanted to freak the little man out. Was it really possible that he had been told something about what had happened to Lily and James already? But then by who? It went without saying that it had been neither of them. Sirius was sure he had not left Dumbledore with the lad long enough for it to have been him. In fact, he did not think Dumbledore and Harry had been alone at all since they had got him out of his aunt and uncles house.

Petunia and Vernon were then the only two logical choices to have been the ones who had told his nephew what had happened to his mother and father… but then they had not struck him to be the type to tell their small nephew that an evil wizard had been the one to take the most loving mother and father in the world away from him. In fact, if they had done it then he was sure they would have done so maliciously in order to hurt Harry.

"So do I kid," said Sirius as he missed him and his eyes met once more with Remus'. There werewolf was the one to ask the question they both had to know the answer to.

"Harry, who told you what happened to mum and dad?" he said gently.

He wished they weren't getting into such territory yet. It had not been part of his or Sirius' plan. The idea was for them to be a lot closer than they were yet when they got about to talking through Lily and James' death. But then they were both quickly learning that things went to plan the way you wanted them to with kids only very rarely. Harry was the one who was setting the agenda for them and they just had to go along with it.

"Aunt Petunia did."

"And what did she say?"

Once more when he was asked this there was a slight fire in Harry's eyes. Sirius knew what had happened and so the young lad did not see why he was bringing it all up again.

"Just that they were in a car crash..."

As soon as the words had come out of Harry's mouth, Remus had though that Sirius was going to go crazy. He was never going to allow such an injustice to happen, to allow the son of his best friend to grow up living with that lie hanging over him.

But Sirius just looked crest fallen t and as if he had no idea what to say back to that though. Remus had been expecting anger but the heart break in Sirius' eyes was so much worst. Of everything that he had so far learnt of the life his godson had been living before he had come to him, this lie had to be the worst.

He did not see how anything could hurt him more than this lie.

Together they had hit rock bottom.

Sirius didn't sleep that night. As much as he had wanted to, for he knew when Harry woke the next day he had to get him breakfast, play with him, get him lunch, play with him, fix dinner, play with him and then bath him before he got him ready for bed, he couldn't. He just couldn't.

He was going to have to go through everything he had been through that day again and even though he was a young man, it was knackering.

But it was not the physical side of caring for the boy he was having a rough time with. He was sure he would be able to play with him endlessly and never get bored. Even though he had been a bachelor (in fact, maybe _because_ of that fact) he was quite a good cook. Making Harry a meal was never going to be a problem.

It wasn't even that he had not known that bringing up Harry was going to take its toll on him emotionally. The fact that he had no parents was always going to meant there were moments of sadness for the two of them. Moments that were going to kill them.

But he had not thought the first few days were going to be as bad as they had been. Maybe he had been fooling himself when he had been in jail. All those times when he had said to himself Lily had been over exaggerating about her sister. He had his hope that Harry was going to be ok. The fact he considered the fact Harry might have wanted to stay with his aunt and uncle proved that.

What he had not prepared himself was the minefield that the last few days had been. It was as if every time he turned about there was something else he should have been able to prevent happening.

Whether it was the fact he had found Harry in a cupboard, the fact that he had been at number four at all or indeed the glass incident, it just seemed to be fate telling him that he was getting everything wrong and he was not up to the massive task he had set himself.

He was not on the verge of giving up though. Not by a long way. He just knew he had to step back and evaluate the way he was going about this. He had come back with the idea he and Harry were going to have so much fun together that soon the days when they had been apart were going to be nothing but a distant memory.

But there were some memories he was beginning to understand that just weren't going to fade for the lad no matter what.

When they had been in the bedroom earlier Remus had been the one who had had to explain what had really happened to Harry, missing the minor details of course. It was as if Sirius had been to frozen by what he had just too been told to speak.

He was letting James and Lily down time and time again. He didn't know when he was making the mistakes so he couldn't stop doing it. He just knew he was.

All this seem to add up in Remus' mind to forcing Sirius to grow up. Even though they had all been the same age when they had been at school, he had been the youngest mentally and he had always looked up to James. They had been twins, but James had been born two minutes earlier so to speak, and had been the big brother as it were. When Sirius got too out of hand he had been the one to rein him back in. He had been the only one who could.

Since he had been home, Remus had already seen Sirius at the kitchen table with a coffee far too many times with a 'why us?' look upon his face. It was as if he was still trying to digest it all, from Voldemort's rise to James's death still.

"You should turn in Padfoot."

"I would if it was going to make the slightest bit of difference. But it wouldn't, I would just lie awake in the dark thinking."

"You're exhausted."

"No Moony. I am just tired – and I'm sad. I'm bloody lost and out of my depth. But my god, I am going to find my way and swim for my life if it kills me."

The next night, as if he had known the two new guardians were in need of a pick me up, Dumbledore went over to the flat with two shrunken trunks.

When he had showed them to Sirius at first he had not seen the relevance of them but by the time that they were done that night, they would prove enough to at least partly to restore Sirius' faith in him.

Once he had enlarged the two trunks, Dumbledore took Remus through to the kitchen for a tea and left Sirius to the contents which turned out to be what he had managed to salvage of Harry's things from Godrics Hollow.

Though the baby grows and the rest of the clothes were obviously far too small, it was the memories they held that made Sirius heart lift. For the first time in five years he held the blue baby grew with teddy's on that had been one of his god son's first outfits. Harry had been in that baby grow when he had got to the hospital on the 31st of July. He had been in it when they had met.

Sirius could only hold it to his heart as he smiled.

Various other bits of clothing came out of the trunk before he got to the toys and the baby blankets and the other bits Lily and James had lovingly picked out for their baby.

The cuddly toys Sirius decided then and there were about to come out of retirement. If Harry needed any more proof that he had been the most beloved son in the world then it was all here in these trunks. He was going to get it.

At the bottom of the first one though, catching Sirius quite off guard was the picture of himself, Remus and the Potters at the christening.

He held Harry and James had his hand on his shoulder. Lily was looking at them both with pride. Both their eyes were saying the same thing to Sirius as they had done that day.

'_You can do this. We believe in you.'_

Resolved strengthened, Sirius sighed as he went on to the next truck, once more feeling optimist about the life which awaited him and Harry.

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	6. Visiting Family

**Chapter 5**

Positive mental thinking had become the order of the day for Sirius, mused Remus. There was a clear change in his friend after they had had that visit from the headmaster and it seemed to the werewolf that rather look for the things he was doing wrong when it came to his godson, he was now looking for the things he was doing right.

Instead of worrying when Harry cried, which he did, perhaps little more than the two of them would have liked him too, for he was still a very nervous little boy, Sirius was more eager to hear in his laughter. That was what was important. And when the tears did come, he was never left alone. Either Moony's or Padfoot's arms were always, without fail, there. He was beginning to feel loved.

Sirius also saw that maybe the three of them being together all of them time, just them, was perhaps not the best idea. Harry needed to be socialized. He needed other kids.

And Sirius needed his life back. Or something that resembled what it had been. They needed it. Being cooped up together was not a good thing.

And so a couple of weeks after he and Harry got back to their world, Sirius arranged with Remus to go out for a while one night, leaving Moony in charge of the little man. As well as getting their lives back they had another challenge the week after.

Full moon.

Remus was pale, reminding Sirius that no matter what happened; life really did go on regardless.

And so he had written to perhaps one of the only other people in the world he could trust aside Moony. He did not know why he had not done it sooner but then he had guessed he had had his mind engaged elsewhere. He had had till now more important things to do.

Bottle of fire whiskey in hand, he left to met with his cousin Andromeda at her cottage eager to be on the terms he had been with her once before. She had been his only friend before he had met the Marauders. She had after all been the only one in his family he had had any great love for. He hoped that the case was not altered with her for he knew she had felt the same about him.

A solitary life was not for him.

Apprating to just outside the cottage where she lived in the south west of England with her husband and her young daughter, who Sirius had only seen a handful of times before times had got too hard on them, he knocked on the door. Waiting for it to be answered, he prayed things were going to be as they had been in the old days.

Inside the building, a rather sheepish Andromeda rose to get the door. When she had heard he had got out of jail she had wanted to go straight to Sirius but she had been so ashamed that she had actually believed he had sold out on her after all they had been through. How had she believed it so easily?

And more than that she should have known he had not had it in him to betray the Potters. Every other member of there so called family did. But not him. Not Sirius. Every bone in his body was decent.

Ted looked at her with sympathy. So in tune with her was he that he knew just what she was thinking. "Go on love," he said to her.

And yet the fact remained when he had got out of jail, he had been the one to make contact rather than her and from what she had heard he had quite enough on his plate. She should have been there for him.

"You had best get the door now he is here."

She nodded.

She answered the door and for the first time in years found she was able to drink the image of her cousin and in a way she had to say she was shocked by what she had found.

If she was honest with herself, then she knew deep down she had no idea what she had been expecting really. It was not as if she knew anyone else who had come back from that god forsaken place.

He was not so utterly changed that she did not know him. She knew him alright but she found him altered. No longer was he the boy she had rebelled with when they were kids. He had lost something which had made him _him_. And it made her sad.

Here was a man who had had a very rough few years. A man who had had no one there for him when he had needed someone the most.

She shook her head in shame. The feeling was overwhelming.

"S-sorry," she said as a way of greeting.

Now it was his turn to be shocked. Even when the two of them had been at there closest she had rarely ever permitted any one to see her tears. It had just not been in her to be over emotional back then. But then she had been changed by the war and she was a mother. That changed a woman, didn't it?

Just as he had when he had seen Remus for the first time again he did not see the point in anger. Not with her. He knew the easiest thing in the world would be to turn bitter at every one he had once known and loved.

But the times they had lived in then did give people leeway. And he knew if he was able to forgive then he was going to be a better man as well as a better guardian. And he wanted to have his relationship back with her as soon as he could. He was not going to rant her when she had been doing what she had thought was for the best.

He shook his head and smiled at her in a way that told her he did not blame her for what she had believed since the war, because he knew the rest of the world had believed it too. And by the end of the war they were not as close as they had been when it had begun. It had pushed them apart, just as it had done to so many people. Too many.

"It doesn't matter cousin," He said as he put the drink down and took her in his arms.

But to her what she had done did matter. The fact she had lost faith so easy _did_ matter. He had to know how sorry she was.

"Yes it does."

It then took him and Ted quite some time to calm her down. Sirius was beginning to see then and there how much the world had changed when he had been locked up from it.

In the old days, she would have never permitted herself such indulgence as no doubt his dear mamma would call it.

"Oh, I am sorry for this," she said as she pulled herself together at last. "I just can't believe the way I behaved to you when you were wrongfully accused and then when you got out, you were the first one to get to a quill instead of me. How can you forgive me Sirius?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Because one, you and my cousin and I love you. Secondly, because none of us are perfect and that goes even more if you were born with the surname 'Black'. Lastly, because now that I am out, I need you to be here for me more than I ever did inside."

She nodded.

"I heard you and Remus have taken James's boy in...How is he?"

"He is a good kid. Scared and confused a lot of the time, not that he wants to show it but you can see it in his eyes. None of this is making a lot of sense to him at the moment, not that it is making a hell of a lot to me. We're the blind leading the blind at the moment."

He turned to her and she was only too able to see the pain that was causing him in his eyes. She had been one the first people he had proudly told he was to be a godfather.

"So what I am trying to say in a really bad way here is that we need help. And I really mean 'we', it is not just me. It is Remus and Harry too. We want to be a family but it is a stumbling ground trying to get there at the moment and if we are shut up just the three of us then it is going to be a lot harder than it is already." He admitted to her.

"Just say the words and I am going to be there for you now." she was not going to make the same mistake twice. "Sirius, you know I'd put my hand in the fire for you, right?" she said with one of her eye brows arched.

It was in that moment he saw the girl he had been bonded so close to when they had been young. When they had been the only ones in the world who were fighting for something better than they had been brought up to want. When they had had the courage to believe in something better.

She saw it to because she took his hand and smiled.

"I am so glad you're innocent. And you're free. I am always going to be on your side, I promise." She said.

He nodded.

"Why don't we have that drink? Toast me being back in business."

"Good idea."

They both needed it he knew, still shocked from the way she had greeted him but then he also knew it was more than likely he was the only family on her side she had left now. That might account for it. He was the only one who had ever been on her side.

For some reason, he did not think Cissy would have come round to her marriage at last and when he asked he found out he was right.

"No, as we knew she would be she is far too busy being a perfect wife to grow a back bone at last. They have a son now, her and Lucius, do you know that? And I have not so much as seen a picture of him. I doubt he even know he has an Aunt Andromeda." She sighed.

For all she behaved as if she detested her sister he had always known that deep down she wanted nothing more than to be part of her life again. She was just too proud to say sorry and anyway, it was Cissy who had to say sorry.

Andy had done nothing wrong.

"I am sorry Andy. I wish you could be part of his life."

"So do I. And I wish my daughter had her aunt. But then what can we do?"

"Well for one thing you can see Harry as a nephew and I can be an honorary Uncle to little Nymph." He said with a nod. He had learnt a long time ago that a make shift family could at times be a lot better than the real thing.

She nodded. "I would like. As much as I hate the pure blood mania, I do think she should know at least some of her biological family asides me."

"And now she will." As for Harry, that was not going to be possible.

Harry's biological family.

It was then he remembered he had promised to pay the Dursleys visit and with the drink inside of him he promised himself he would drop in on the way home.

But he had not asked what he had come to yet.

"Andy do any of your friends have kids Harry's age? I just need to get him socialising."

She had to say she was shocked at this. She had thought he would have wanted to keep his god son himself a little longer than he had yet. He had never been very good at sharing even when they had been kids.

But then she had to say, even if he did not yet know him as the back of his hand, he knew the lad better than she did.

"Is it such a good idea to be introducing him to people yet? I mean, he isn't just James and Lily's son any more, Sirius - this is Harry Potter we are talking about. I know you are going to want him to be a normal kid before he is anything else but you have to accept that is not going to be easy now."

He nodded. "Andy, I hear you and I know what you are saying. I have played the same arguments through in my mind already. But he is always going to be Harry Potter no matter what time he starts socialising with kids in our world. It is best that he does it while they are young so they can get used to one another. I know he is not normal, not after everything that has gone on but I still want him to have mates who can call him a dumb ass when he gets it wrong at school or laugh at him when his first few dates with girls go wrong."

Basically, what he wanted for the lad was to have a friend like his dad had been to him.

"Well in that case, do you remember Molly Prewett? She was in my year?"

"The red head who got off with the lanky geek?"

"Oh cousin dear, I have missed the way you turn in a beautiful phrase, but yes the 'red head who got off with the lanky git' and if their brood is anything to go by, then they are still getting off with one another to this day."

"Why? How many rug rats have they got?"

"Seven."

"Seven of the little buggars? I can't cope with one!"

She collapsed in to giggles. She was only just beginning to realise how much she had missed her cousin when he had been gone from her and it entrenched in her the belief she was going to be there for him no matter what now.

No more separation.

"Tell me about it! Anyway, my point is one of them must be Harry's age. I'll give her an owl."

"Much appreciated."

Sirius looked up at four Privet Drive. Sitting on the side of the road, he sighed. He had to come good on his promise to return but now he was here he was not sure what he wanted to do – scare Dursley at no mistake. He had to pay for what he had done to Harry when he had been in his care.

But there was something about it he did not like. Over the last few days he knew the passion he had was in him had changing. It was not that it was gone – but it was different. He had been changed.

He had seen so much of pain – and he was sick of the war that had not really come to an end for him yet. He was beginning to think it never would. He was always going to be stuck in the middle of it wasn't he?

As long as he did not have his best friend as his right hand man, how was it going to end?

James had been the biggest part of his life and now he was gone. And he did not think it had sunk in yet. He didn't think it was ever going to. Not now.

But either way he knew he had to go on.

Standing up, he took a deep breath. There were times when he just liked to stand and breathe for he had not felt the free air in his lungs for so long.

When he had been in jail everything had been so boxed in. He had not been able to stand it. He did not like the feeling that someone else had been in complete control of him.

Only the thought of his innocence... only the thought of Harry. Those two thoughts had kept him sane.

His mind turned back to why he had come here. All the time he had been dreaming of getting back to the little man he had been being abused.

He had been treated as no small child should have been. They were not going to get away with it he had vowed.

And he stood by that.

Not bothering to knock on the door, he apparated in to the house.

He was glad he had left it so late he realised, as things were going to be a lot easier than he had thought they would.

He headed upstairs to the room where he had found Harry's cousin when he had last been there. Once more the pudding lad was there. Casting a sleeping spell over Dudley, Sirius picked him up before thinking better of it – a feather light charm was also needed if he was going to carry the lad. He was not the same size as Harry.

Once he had done so he headed down the stairs with the lad in his arms. He had known if he was going to get them to listen to him then he had to give them an incentive and it seemed they loved their son just as much as he loved Harry from the way his mother had tried to get to him the last time he had been there.

If he had their boy in his arm then they were going to listen no matter what.

He knew Harry was the ransom, then he would listen to anything.

The two dozy muggles were in there arm chairs as he came down the stairs. He smirked. Even though it sickened him, he had to say he was enjoying the power he knew he was going to have over Harry's aunt and uncle. For so long they had had so much power over him – ever since they had had Harry in their care. They had had power over him when they had not even known it.

He liked to turn the tables.

"He is lovely when he is asleep, isn't he?" said Sirius as he walked into the living room, Dudley in one arm and his wand in the free hand. With a mere wave of his wrist the TV was off and he had the full attention of the two muggles.

"You put him down!" screeched a terrified Petunia, once more the mother in her being dominate. As soon as she saw her baby in one of _their_ arms she wanted to kill him.

And when she saw how close her child was to his thing... she looked to her husband to do something.

"But he was in a bed, Petunia – I thought I better come and put him in the cupboard under the stairs! That's where you too allow kids to sleep in here isn't it? Much more your style!" Sirius spat.

Even though he knew he really shouldn't part of him enjoyed this more than anything else he had done since he had been out. He didn't have to watch his mouth. He was going to have nothing to do with them ever again. And he was master of the situation. After years of being so bloody out of control, he liked the way it felt to be back in the driving seat.

"The two of you might want to sit down as we are going to be here for a while." he warned neither of them moved. "SIT DOWN!"

They did as they were told of course for they were in fear of the life of their child supposedly. Sirius shook his head. He was not a monster and he would never hurt a kid. Not when he knew what it was like to see a kid who you did love hurt. What did they think he was? A monster?

"No, this little man was peacefully asleep, so I was just trying to figure out the difference between him and Harry. Obviously there is something a bit more animal about my godson which is why you treated your own sister's child like one."

Even though she was in fear for her own son it was quite obvious that Petunia felt ashamed at what she had done. He wondered what had gone through her mind when she had agreed to let her tiny nephew sleep in the cupboard. Had she really thought that there was no one else in the world who had loved him? No one else in the world who wanted to cuddle him and tell him it was all going to be ok at the end of the day?

"We took care of the boy. You should be grateful," her husband declared quietly.

Sirius did not believe what he was hearing and what the vile man was saying was actually hurting his ears.

"You actually believe that don't you? Tell you what, I'll take your son back to my house and lock him in the cupboards under our stairs. Are you going to be grateful for that?" The fact the flat had no stairs was irrelevant ,of course.

While Petunia opened her mouth to protest, Vernon beat her to it.

"What were we meant to do? We could have just sent him to an orphanage."

"And you know what I wish you had – no matter where he was he would have been less screwed up than he has been by you two. You know the thing that shocks me the most is the fact that the pair of you are actually parents of a small kid yourselves and you were still able to treat Harry the way that you did. Just how sick does that make you? Petunia, you especially. He was – he is – Lily's son!" Sirius asked. "How _dare_ you tell him they died in a car crash when they died to save his life? " he asked quietly.

And it was with those last words that he seemed to hit home with what he had been saying as the water works begun.

Putting her hand over her mouth, she seemed to be trying to find the right words to say it better but the fact was there was none.

"You know I don't know why I don't take this lad back with me to Remus. He would be a lot better off." he said as he looked down on the sleeping child and for the first time he saw him as something more than the lad who had hurt his godson. He saw someone who just did not know any better and someone who was not going to know better if he wasn't taught. Dudley was not and never had been better off than Harry.

And he felt so sorry for him. To be left there with them for a mum and a dad. Even if he did have a bed to sleep in at night, what chance did he really have? For the first time he saw himself in Dudley. Or his kid brother to be precise. Not enough of a back bone to stand up to his mum and dad and say no.

And by the time he could grow one it would be too late. They were going to smoother him.

"Please, give him back to me."

Petunia looked up at him with tears running down her face and her eyes were telling him he had had his fun and he had made his point.

"Thank god Lily is dead. Thank god she never had to see what you became."

But the women shook her head once more.

"She was my sister. I loved her."

"You don't know the meaning of the word. Love is dying for some one. Love is trying when you don't know what to try. And love is seeing through the darkness when only a single flame is alight." He told them. "My little godson was my flame. I can't help wondering what is going to be your sons."

He had only ever meant to scare them, he thought to himself. He had clearly done that.

A sudden longing came over him for Harry as he looked into the mothers eyes and once again the power was worthless.

He wanted home. He wanted Harry.

()()()

He knew it was a cliché but for Sirius Black there was suddenly no place like home in the world. It was the place where he was safe from the rest of the world. It was where he knew nothing was going to get him. The shabby old flat would have curled a lot of peoples toe nails. He loved it.

But he loved nothing more than he loved coming home to his godson.

As soon as he had his coat off he went through to see him.

He had only intended to check on him for a moment before he headed off to bed himself but when he saw Harry's eyes were still wide open, he felt his heart sore. He loved tucking him in to bed at night. It was one of the best things about being a parent, if only a surrogate one.

"Hey buddy, why are you still awake?"

It was beginning to be obvious that the bond between them was giving Harry confidence as he did not seem to think he was in trouble. Had he asked Harry that the night he had got to him then Sirius knew the lad would have jumped right out of his skin and started saying sorry.

He did look embarrassed though. And tired...

It was then it clicked in Sirius' mind that he had been waiting for him to come home before he had gone to sleep.

"Were you waiting up for me?" he asked and Harry nodded.

"Come on then, budge up," said Sirius as he sat on the bed. Under Harry's arm he noticed one of the stuffed toys he had reunited Harry with that morning when they had tried to go through the trunks together. However he had got the vibe that in the end it had all been a bit much for the lad and so they had put them away till another day.

As soon as he opened up his arms for his godson the boy crawled into them. After years of being starved of any type of affection, Sirius lavished it upon him, and rightly so thought the doting godfather.

And as much as he denied it, it was not just Harry who needed all the cuddles.

He was still a young man and he knew he had been through hell. But he was going to heal. They were both going too.

Kissing his godson's forehead he shut his eyes and went over the evenings events and – he felt numb. He was glad he had got Andromeda back on his side. He had needed her.

But everything with Harry's family – had it made anything better? Had it made it worse? The answer to both of those questions was not really. It hadn't changed much.

But he supposed he had some peace from what he had done. And he could move past it now. He had got rid of his demons with the Dursleys that night.

And now they just had to get past Harry's, he mused as he held the lad.

As long as they were together though, there was nothing they weren't going to get past.

_Please review!_


	7. Memories and Moments

**Chapter 6**

It was as if what Andy had said to Sirius the night before had given him some security because for the first time since he had been back, Sirius slept late the next morning. Having fallen asleep next to Harry, he was in the land of the nod still as the lad got out quietly and went outside into the kitchen.

Remus, who had ever been an early riser, was up and as soon as Harry got out to the kitchen, he put his hands up to him for a cuddle despite the fact he had been hugged all night. Now he knew he was not going to be denied affection when he asked for it, he wanted it all the time.

"Good morning mate," said Remus as he lifted him up without thinking about it and kissed his forehead. "How are you?"

"Good – Sirius is still asleep though," he said to him, his shock showing, so accustom was he to his godfather being up before he was.

"Well, I think we had better let him have a lie in then, hadn't we? I bet he is tired out still from all that play yesterday."

"Yeah we had a lot of fun didn't we?"

"Always kiddo." Said Remus as he kissed him again. "What do you want for breakfast today?"

Even though they were making real progress with Harry, decision making was still an issue. It was not that Harry could not make them thought Remus, it was that he did not like to do so in case they thought he was being presumptuous or he made the wrong one. Of course, that was going to go in time but the only way they could think of to get past it was to keep asking until Harry was comfortable with it and so that was the path they were perusing.

But it seemed as if they were in luck that day.

"Toast." Said Harry quietly with a look of concentration on his face suddenly and the desperation to be told he had made the right choice was also there.

"Anything on it?"

"Jam..."

"And orange juice?"

Harry nodded.

"Ok we can do that. Why don't you get the juice out of the fridge?"

As much as they wanted to do all they could for Harry, Remus and Sirius believed that to be a family they also had to be a team and so had also made the decision not to let Harry sit on the side lines of what they were doing, not to put him on a pedestal. He was going to be part of their family and so if there were things he could do to help make breakfast then he should do them. Ten minutes later they were both sitting at the table together both stilled pyjamad munching away together.

"What are we going to do today?" asked Harry.

"What would you like to do?"

Harry shrugged which was fair enough Remus supposed - at least he had got what the lad had really wanted for breakfast out of him.

"Well, we can chill out till Sirius gets up and then we can figure it out, yeah?"

Smile restored, Harry nodded.

Remus had to say he enjoyed the little time he got with Harry alone. It had been a long time since he had had anything which was even near a family (not that the other two were better off) but he could not help but feel side lined sometimes, even if he knew it was unintentional. Sirius felt as if he had a debt to pay to James as he had not yet been there for Harry as he would have liked to have been.

But just because Sirius had the title and he didn't, did not mean he loved the lad any less or felt any less responsible for him.

While the two of them were waiting for Sirius to get up they begun to play with Harry's cuddly toys, which Remus noticed he was always gentle with. Because of the fact he knew they had come from, his mummy and his daddy, they were extra precious to him. He knew that when he was a young boy, before he could remember, his mother and his father had touched these toys, and perhaps just in some tiny way, when he held what they hand, he was touching _them_ as well.

Sirius did not get up till gone ten in the end. Waking up to find Harry gone from his side had not been a pleasant experience till he had heard him in the next room laughing with Remus. And when he heard it he had smiled.

Waking up to a giggling Harry was the way he wanted every day to begin.

"How are you this morning young man?" he said as he went into the living room and was greeted with a hug just as Remus had been.

"Did you have a good sleep?" said Remus with a grin as Sirius had the cheek to yawn.

"Yes, I did actually."

After a few weeks out of Azkaban, he seemed to be feeling a little more like himself. He had not thought to find so much peace in himself so soon. But he felt a contentment he had not known in quite some time that morning.

"And how did last night go? Was it a success?"

Of course, what Remus had been thinking about was when he had gone to his cousins but the first half of the night, he admitted to himself, had been rather over shadowed by the second now. He wondered if he had done the right thing when he had gone too Surrey.

But he had had to act on his word; he always had. Had it been a success?

"Yeah... Yeah it was." He said as he kissed the lad in his arms and spun him about causing an eruption of giggles.

He looked at Harry and he remembered how he had found him and he knew he had done the right thing. James would not have left it and so he couldn't.

"Where did you go last night Sirius?"

"I went to see my cousin." He said to him and a slight look of upset came over Harry's face. The only cousin he had ever known was Dudley which had to account for it.

"She is a very nice lady, don't worry about it mate. I told her all about you."

"What did you say?"

"I said you were a very lovely boy who I love a great deal, and she says she's like to meet you. I'd be there as well so do you think that would be ok?" Assured that he was not going to be on his own, Harry nodded.

"And you _would_ be there?"

"All of the time – but Harry, if you do not want to do this yet then you don't have to," said Sirius. The last thing he wanted to do in the world was to make the lad feel uncomfortable because he knew if he did, then he risked the bond he had so far made with him and he was not going to do that for anything in the world.

As much as he did want his family back, Harry was more important that they were to him.

Everything had to move at his speed.

"No, if you are there then it is going to be ok isn't it?" he said to him as he hugged is godfather tight. In the time he had been with him, he had gained an unshakable faith in Sirius. And Sirius had to say it scared him.

"What if I don't mean to, but one day I let him down?" he asked Remus when the lad was in the toilet later that day.

Remus had been waiting for such a question since he had heard what Harry had said to him. He knew as much as Sirius loved Harry, nothing scared him more than that boy because nobody else had the power that Harry did over him; the power had come with the love.

"You are far too devoted to that boy to allow that to happen," replied Remus. He did not foresee a time in the future then he was going to let that happen. Ever since he had got the trunk he had been so much more together. "But if god forbid that did happen, then I know you would find a way to make it up to him."

"Remus, I could not wait to be back with him - I just didn't know how scary raising a kid was going to be."

"Well now you do – in fact, now _we_ do. I mean the idea of Lily and James having kids I thought was so that we could play with the rugrats and give them back at the end of the day but I suppose best laid plans and all ... the point, however, I should be trying to make is that you love that boy like no one else ever has and as long as that is the case, nothing else matters."

()()()

"I think this one was the blanket that mum and dad got for you."

No one was more surprised than Sirius than when Harry came up to him and asked if they could go through more of the trunk. Inevitably, when they had first had a go at it, the two of them had found it a little over whelming – but now that they were prepared for what they were going to find, Sirius Harry and Remus found they were able to get through a lot more of it without tears.

"Yeah it was." Remus confirmed as he looked at the baby blue blanket he had seen Harry wrapped up in when he had been a baby. He also remembered lying it out on the floor once or twice so that when Harry was sick of being cuddle he could chill out on it and have a bit of a kick around.

Most of the time, he had been a good natured baby though; he had loved his cuddles just as much as his mum and his dad (and his uncle and godfather for that matter) had loved given them to him.

"And this was the teddy that I got you when you were still at St Mungos with mum," said the werewolf as he got out it out of the trunk.

When they had been apart, he had forgotten he had got it for him. He had forgotten so much about the time he had spent with them and that made him sad. What about the things he had no mementos of? Was he ever going to get those memories back or were they just got with the wind?

Harry gently took the two from Remus and cuddled it close.

He was finally beginning to believe he had been loved when he was a baby, thought Remus. The reinforcement that the trunks were giving him could have come from nowhere else but Lily and James themselves.

"It is funny going through all of this." Said the little boy quite suddenly and he had a look of pure frustration of his face once more. It was as if he wanted to tell them something but he knew he was never going to be able to find the words.

"I know kiddo," Sirius soothed him from across the room.

Whatever Harry was going through, he felt it too. He was pretty sure all three of them did.

()()()

Dumbledore sat in his office with a letter from Remus Lupin in his hands. He did not think the two surviving Marauders were ever going to forgive him for the choice he had made when it came to Harry, for in their eyes it had never been his choice to make, but at least he was now able to comfort himself that the letters he was getting from the flat were now once more slightly affectionate.

It seemed that the gifts he had given them had brought some calm to the house hold. That was what he had intended to do for he knew tempers had been fraying over there.

And he had to be in favour with that household too, for if he was not, how was he ever going to ensure the safety of that child?

He had been about to go thought he letter for a second time when there was a knock on the door. It was funny – after years of living at Hogwarts he had got quite used to the different knocks of the different members of staff so if one of them did, he generally knew before the door was open who it was and that was the case just then.

"Please come in Severus!" he called as he put the letter down.

He knew if there was one person in the world who hated the new laws that the ministry had brought in and thought they were a bad idea, it was the Potions Master. He still remembered the day he had first spoken to him about them.

Severus, because of his own past, was even harsher on the justice system than most and thought it was far too lenient; and that was before he had worked out that Sirius Black was indeed going to be returning to the wizarding world.

Now, he hated nothing more than the idea than Lily's son was in the care of that man. James Potter's bests friend and man was never going to be good enough to be near her son in his opinion and when he heard what was going on he had gone straight to Dumbledore to petition him to stop it but he had been unable to. Sirius had had the right to go and get the boy and as it had turned out in the end, he had needed saving. But that did not change the fact he had been a much happier man when he had known the child of the women he had loved had not been in the care of Sirius Black.

"Good day headmaster."

"And a good day to you as well Severus, how are you today?"

"I am as I am every other day." He said dryly

Albus could not help but agree with that assessment because he knew it had been a very long time since he had been ok.

Reflecting, he could not help but think how he had let the class of 1979 down. Certainly they had been the ones who had paid the biggest price for the war, each in their own way it seemed. There was not one of them who had not paid in some way or another. And he wondered if he could have helped them in another way or done something differently to ensure their safety more than he had.

"Indeed." He said with a heavy hearted sigh.

While they had not affected him in the same way they had got to Remus and Sirius, he knew the events of the last few weeks had got to him. There was a heavy weight in his heart all of a sudden.

"And are you ok headmaster?" he asked.

Albus looked up at Severus and for the first time he saw every one he had let down over the years. Severus... Harry... Remus... Sirius...Alice... Frank... Lily... James.

All the way back to his brother and sister. Back to Ariana...

Had he ever thought of someone else except himself?

Out of the corner of his eye the letter seemed to be mocking him. Within the parchment was a hope – a dream. A hope of a new family.

It was everything he had wanted since he had lost his – he had had it once and he had never appreciated it. And now as Sirius, Remus and Harry tried to find their way to come together, he had been left on the side lines.

"I was." He sighed.

He had been ok once. But that time too was gone...

()()()

"So I have got a letter from Andy and she's says the three of us can go over for our dinner on Saturday night if we are all up for it." Said Sirius as he brought lunch into the living room. Andy's owl followed him into the room.

Apparently it had been told to get an answer before it left.

"Well, saves one of us cooking doesn't it?" Remus nodded. "What do you think little man? Tea with Sirius' cousin and her family on Saturday?"

Harry nodded.

"You sure buddy? We don't have to go yet if you don't feel ready," said Sirius to him, not wanting to rush him.

"No, it's cool."

If she was Sirius cousin then she had to be good didn't she? And besides, Remus seemed to be up for it as well.

"Ok then, that's settled." He said as the other two tucked into their sandwiches. "Saturday night it is."

()()()

By the time that Saturday came round; Sirius found he was not only looking forward to the night but excited about it too. It had been god only knew how long since he had seen his kid cousin and as much as he had had to focus on Harry since he had been out, he was not the only person he cared about.

He wanted to know all about Nymphadora. She was growing up fast and he had missed out too much on her life already.

If he had done his maths right then she was about to go into her second year at school when she went back after summer, meaning that her school years and Harry's were going to overlap by one.

"Right, are we ready to go troops?" he said at six.

Harry came into the room, Remus's teddy in his arms. Of all the toys they had got out of the trunks, that was the one he had become the most attached to once more. When they had got them back he had thought he was going to cling to the ones his mum and his dad had got for him. But then he knew Remus; he was now real to him in a way his mum and were never going to be again.

Not now. And the werewolf had to say he was rather touched when he saw the way the lad carried it about with him.

"Yup."

Harry gave him a smile that he had not been expecting. When he had said he was ready to go for the meal, his godfather had had to say he had not been convinced by his reaction.

But as usual, as good as his word, Harry was coming up trumps for him.

"There's a good lad."

There was going to be another first for Harry that night. Rather than drive as they had done when they had picked him up from his aunt and his uncles, Sirius and Remus had decided they were going to flew to the cottage with Harry.

It was the quickest way for them to get there and they knew as Harry got older they were going to want to travel with him by magical means. It was odd what they were going through – it was as if they had to in a way re-socialised the boy completely to suit the ways of the world that the three of them were living in which was, of course, exactly what they had to do… so really it wasn't 'as if' at all, mused Sirius.

Harry had to see magic as a good influence on his life.

And that meant he did not have to go on any more long car journeys.

It helped that he was going to go with Sirius. Reaching up to him as he had been told to do when the adults had for explained what they were going to do, he settled quickly in to his god father's arms.

"Now are you sure you want to do this? We don't have to if it is too soon."

"Padfoot, it's cool." Said Harry, eager to please and slightly exasperated.

"Ok," said Sirius as he checked with a look from Remus that he thought here was doing the right thing _again_.

They had talked about it and they had said he did not have to go through with it if he did not wish too. Not yet – after all it was still early days for them all. Hopefully he knew the pair of them well enough by now to know he meant it. They would not have got angry if he had said to them that he was not ready to met Andromeda yet.

But he had said he was ready.

Apparating for Sirius was like riding a broom; he found even though he had been prevented from doing it for so long, he had not forgotten how too.

Holding on to his god son tightly he found he was soon outside his cousins house.

Eyes back on Harry, he caught his eye.

"You ok, pup? How was that?"

"Cool!" said a wide eyed Harry. Sirius had warned him that he might feel a little sick the first time; but apparently that was not the case.

Remus was soon once more next to them and he had a smile on his face.

"Shall we knock on the door then?" said Remus.

"Indeed we should Moony."

The door, however, was almost before they got there. It was obvious Andy had been looking forward to their visit and she had a big smile on their face to greet the three of them.…

"Welcome guys!" she said with a beaming smile.

"Hey Andy," said Sirius as he walked in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He had been about to put his little one down till he felt him cling on together.

Maybe not.

"Thank you so much for having us over," said Remus from behind.

"Not at all, it's a pleasure to do so." She beamed. "And how is this young man today?" she addressed Harry.

When no immediate response came, Sirius saw that he was in need of a rescue.

"Perhaps a little shy. Perhaps a drink would brighten him up, hey pup?" he said to the boy who was currently hiding his face in his shoulder.

"Of course," said Andy with an apologetic smile which her cousin shrugged off knowing, or should he say hoping, that Harry would settle through the evening.

And so the three went in to the cottage to begin their first brave attempt at a social visit as a family.

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**Author Note:** I am so sorry for the delay guys; work and then my holiday have prevented me from updating. I'm back now though and am hoping to get more chapters out quicker than this one came!


	8. Bravery and Brusies

**Chapter 7**

"Daddy, is that really Harry Potter?" were the first words that greeted the trios ears as they walked inside.

"Nymph, what did we say?" her mother gently chastised her as she tried to keep her daughters enthusiasm for their house guest at bay. "Why don't you say hello to your cousin instead?"

Sirius had to say he had in part been expecting this – after all, Nymph was still really only a baby herself at eleven. And discretion was not a trait the Blacks were known for was it? She had grown up with the myth of the Boy Who Lived.

Knowing that Sirius was going to have to greet the two of them properly, Harry reached out to Remus who took him in his arms.

"Ted, is it ok for you to show the little man where he can get a drink?" his wife asked and he nodded.

"Why don't we go through to the kitchen, Harry?" he said to the back of the lad's head which was now hid in Remus's shoulder.

"Sorry about the little one," Sirius said as soon as he knew the lad was out of ear shot, for he did not want him to know he was saying sorry for him – he hadn't really done anything wrong.

"Not at all, he has had a hard time of late, you told me that. As for you Mrs, what did I say?"

"I know mummy, but was just so excited to met him!" Nymph tried to defend herself.

"Shall I let you in on a secret?" Sirius said as he learnt down to her height. "So was I!"

That common link between the two of them sent a smile to Nymph face which told her mother Sirius was going to be quite something in his role of adoptive uncle. "But your mum was right to tell you not to come on to strong. He is a wee bit shy is Harry, you see?"

Nymphadora nodded. "I'm sorry - I didn't mean to upset him."

"I know and its fine but if he is a bit quiet when he is eating night and stuff, it isn't because he doesn't like you. It is because Harry's uncle and aunt made him sad when he was with them and so he doesn't know how to handle strangers to well at the moment – but it is not to going to be long until the two of you are not strangers if I have my way – so why don't we go find him?"

"Good idea."

Sirius had to admit, even if they had had a little hic cup already, he was still determined the night was going to go well and that was what the smile he threw his cousins way said.

He had a plan to make this Harry's new family.

"Is it this way then?" he said nodding the direction that he had seen his best friend take Harry.

"Yes," Andromeda nodded as she realised he did not really know his way about the cottage yet. After all, when he had been there before he had only sat in the living room with her.

She lead the way into a kitchen which was not a lot bigger than the one he shared with the boys back at the flat. When he thought of the wealth the two of them had been brought up when they were kids it made him laugh.

It had never made the two of them happy, had it?

Out of the five of them, only one now lived a privileged world and he wondered if it did make her happy. But then he knew it was no time to be thinking of the past. He had to look to the future with those he loved about him.

The chairs about the table had been pulled out and Remus sat in one with Harry on his lap. The lad was by the looks of it enjoying the cola he had been given and showed no signs of getting off Remus and did not even make a beeline for him when he came into the room.

"You alright?" he asked the boy nodded. "Good."

Before an awkward silence could get hold of the room Andromeda got the plates out of the cupboard.

"I take it every one is ok with burgers and chips tonight?"

"Yes, that is going to be just fine by the three of us, isn't it?" Sirius said as Harry nodded shyly.

"Nymph, why don't you go and get some of your schools things to show Sirius? I am sure he would be interested in the way things had changed since we were there."

"It has only been eight years, though it seems a lot longer." Sirius sighed softly but he kept his smile up as he reminded himself once more he had to think of the future. Before he had even said those words he saw his little cousin fly out the door to do as her mother had told her.

He wondered what she thought about Harry and what she had been expecting when her mother had said to her they were having Harry Potter over for tea.

Poor boy.

If that had been just one girls reaction then what the rest of their worlds going to be to him?

()()()

Harry seemed happy to get to bed all in all when they were back from Andy's. Even though he had in the end loosened up about the Tonks to a degree, Sirius had been able to tell all night he had not felt like himself. He had been put under pressure and the concerned god father could not help but wonder if he had been the one to put him there. Maybe it was all too soon and he was too eager to get his own life back.

He should be thinking of Harry more.

As soon as the lads head hit the pillow he was asleep it seemed and he looked happier there than he had been all night.

At least in the end little Nypmh had seemed to call down a little about him and asides her obvious klutziness, Sirius had an idea she was going to be quite a good sister figure to Harry. Though the girl herself seemed to be the first one to admit she was not the most natural student in the world, it was obvious she tried in everything she did and she was bubbling with enthusiasm for life.

Unless his judgement had been completely left behind when he had left jail he knew that, she was going to go far.

Leaning down he put a kiss on the boy's forehead and he could feel himself relaxing too. How was it he had been able to sit for five years? How had he wasted so much time? He should have been with him from the moment he had lost his mum and dad.

They were making progress together.

And he knew they were getting where ever they were going – or at least they were on their way.

Looking to the door, he saw Remus there looking at the two of them with a smile on his face and he wondered if he was thinking along the same lines as he was.

"I love you." He said to the little boy as he kissed his forehead. Harry turned into him, cuddly toy still under his arms. In spite of all he had been through Harry was turning out to be maybe the most affectionate lad either of them had ever met.

Getting up, Sirius sighed. He wasn't sure if was a happy or a sad one but there was something him making him sigh. He was happy and sad all at once he guessed. And there was always going to be that feeling in him because no matter how much he loved tucking Harry in at night, he knew he should do it once a week only. The other six nights, Lily and James should be there to do so. He was a bachelor and he had lived through the war, when two parents who needed to live had not. It wasn't fair.

But then life rarely was.

"He did well tonight," said Remus as Sirius shut the door gently behind himself. They both had a smile on their face.

"Yes, he did. I was worried for a moment when we got there that it was all a bit much too soon but he proved me wrong."

"He has a bit of a knack for proving people wrong, doesn't he? If they say it can now be done then that lad in there just goes ahead and does it as if it was a walk in the park." They both knew it had been a bit harder than that but the effect was the same.

Harry was an amazing lad.

"I think he gets it from his dad." Remus muttered and Sirius nodded. Determined not to meet his eye for fear emotions were going to bubble over, Sirius passed Remus and walked into the kitchen.

"I think I am going to have a cup of tea and then I am going to turn in for the night."

"Sounds like a plan – I'll join you."

He nodded as he put the kettle on for the two of them.

"Nymph seems as if she is a great kid too, doesn't she?"

Remus nodded. "She does."

"I hope we are going to see a lot more of them all. If I can get Harry used to her then Andromeda suggested that maybe he can make some friends in the Weasley family. You remember Molly and Arthur doesn't you?"

"Only vaguely."

"Well, somehow they are my cousins too," he said with a shrug as he tried to work out how but then gave up. "The point is they have a legion of kids. It will be good for Harry to be about them."

"Do you not think it might be a bit too much for him?"

"I am not talking about anything soon. Only when he is ready for it."

Remus wondered how long it was going to be until he was ready to really start meeting people and going out. It was going to take time but he knew it was going to come none the less.

But then he had to put that to the back of his mind for he knew they were soon going to have a much more pressing worrying.

As Sirius looked at him he knew what was on his mind.

"I can go out alone; you stay and look after Harry. He has to come first."

In every other circumstance, he did agree with him. But Sirius was not going to allow Remus to out on his own for the first full moon since he had been back. God only knew what Moony had done to himself since he had had to be on his own once more.

"That is not going to be necessary." He said so sure was he that he was going to get out with him. He missed the full moon escapades he had had with the others when they had been so young. They really did belong to another life time though.

"But if he wants you to be here with him then you should be."

"I know but the least we can do is ask him. He might be ok if we were to leave him with Dumbledore or Andy," he said, doubting the latter though even as he said it. She had been kind to him but he had not been too warm to her and he got the feeling it was going to be a bit of time before he trusted her and Ted.

Of course, they had the option of waiting for him to be asleep and then going – but what if he were to wake up in the night? Harry would be terrified.

He did not want to lie to him.

No, he would not do that. The last thing in the world he was going to do was risk the trust that was between himself and his god son. He was just going to have to convince the lad he was going to be fine if he was left with Dumbledore.

()()()

The professor had to say he was delighted when he got the note that asked him to look after Harry for the evening – part of him had fully expected it because of the time of the month but the other half of him had said that he was the last person in the world that Sirius was likely to leave his treasured god son with but clearly that was not the case and he was grateful for it.

He did want to be part of the lives.

But even when he got the letter he knew it really was still an 'if'. Everything depended on Harry.

()()()

"Hey buddy, can I talk to you?" said Sirius as he came into the living room to find Harry lying on his stomach with his toys all lined up about him. He had had a look of concentration of his face when he had first got to the door way as he had been moving his toys about.

It had been a magic moment for the godfather to see him playing – just like any other child.

He was becoming a boy once more.

As soon as he said those words, he saw the smile fade and a worried look on the lads face.

"Have I done a bad thing?"

The fact that he still assumed that he had done something wrong was something that still made his god father angry and something he knew he was going to have to change. No lad should have to live in fear like that. And besides, Harry was the best behaved child he had ever met. He doubted he could do any wrong even if he should want too.

"No, this is nothing to do with you but I need to ask you something. You're not in any trouble at all," he said as he sat down next to him and put an arm round him but he did not feel his godson relax in to it as he so often did.

"Do you remember Professor Dumbledore?" asked Sirius.

Harry nodded. He had not seen him much but he knew he had been the one who had come to get him from his aunt and uncles.

"And do you remember when I had to go out to Andromeda's that Remus stated here to look after you?"

Harry nodded.

"Well next week, Remus is going to have to out for the night but you see when he does he wants me to go with him, so do you think it would be ok if Dumbledore were to look after you for the night?"

For a moment, the boy seemed to freeze. Part of Sirius had known he had only been alright with Remus going out he had been there. And he did not know Dumbledore the way he knew them.

Remus was as much a surrogate parent as he was and he could see the conflict in Harry's eyes and what he was putting him through and he knew he had to stop it. He had expected too much of Harry. He had only just got used to the two of them and when they were with him, he clung to them to make sure they were never going to leave him.

And so to ask the boy too say he was going to be ok when nether of them were there already he knew was unfair. He had asked him to let him go for the night for selfish reasons.

He knew as he looked in to the lad's eyes part of the reason he wanted to go to relive his own youth. That was when he had had everything he had ever wanted. A family of his own.

But then what was he thinking? He still had that and it was so much better for the fact that Harry was the centre of it.

"Padfoot –" begun Harry and he looked as if he was torn between trying to be brave and saying what he wanted too. That it was too soon and if one of them was going to then he had to have the other with him. He wanted one of them to be the last face he saw before he went to bed and Sirius knew for Harry there was no one else in the world able to fill the space he and Remus had in the lads heart and it was unfair to expect any one else too.

Sirius shook his head and he cut him off but he kept a smile on his face. Harry was a good boy for trying to be brave enough to go the night without one of them already but Sirius was not going to allow it. He had to be sure.

It was like the dinner – he was not going to risk the bond they had between the two of them.

Bending down he kissed the boy on the forehead. "But you know if you wanted me too, I can stay and we can have a boy's night in, just the two of us."

Harry nodded and it was clear just how much more comfortable he was with that plan than he had been with the idea of both of his beloved guardians leaving him.

It seemed as if it was going to be another lonely full moon for Moony.

()()()

When it came to it though, as he and Harry played games, Sirius felt guilty. When he had got out of jail, Remus had been back by his side straight away. He had been a good friend to him.

And he knew when he got back in the next day he was going to be covered in scratches bruises and they were going to have to find a way to tell Harry that he was ok; everything was alright. But he knew when the next full moon came in all good faith he was not going to be able to stay behind.

He felt sick all night for Remus.

But no matter how much he had wanted to deny it, when he had been young he had been born a Black and that meant he was able to hide his emotions when he wanted to so he did not think his god son picked up on the way he was feeling.

But one trial came after another when you were a parent and he knew he was going to have to get used to it.

()()()

When Remus morphed back he had to lay on the ground for a moment and get his breathe back. He was used to it, but it still hurt.

It seemed another life time ago when he had fun when he had been transformed. He remembered when he had been a lad and he had been with the boys. When Sirius got out, he had hoped that time was going return to him.

But not yet it seemed. He did not resent it, he knew what a nervous lad Harry was and how much he needed Sirius to be there for him. But he had to admit to himself that there were times when he needed his best friend too.

And that had been one of them.

He wondered for just a moment what his life would have been if he had not been bitten when he was so young but he had learned long ago that such thoughts were going to get him nowhere. They were not going to change the fact he had been. Nothing could do that.

But at least when he did get to the flat, he was going to have two people who were there who loved him. He loved going home.

But he knew he was going to have to try and get a bit patched up before he did go back to the flat for he was not going to let Harry see him in the state that he was in then.

He would scare the lad witless. He knew that was the worst possible thing he could do at that moment.

Even though it was not usual practice any more, he apparated up to Hogwarts where he knew Pomfrey would care for him and help fix his appearance.

Of course, when he got there though she was unwilling to just patch him up and let him go on his way - that had never been her style and he did not think it was ever going to be – he had been under her care to many times to think that.

When she did insist that he had a rest before he went on his way though, he did not protest. He found it nice to be on his own in peace and quiet for a moment. The pain relieving potion he had been given did its job very well and he found he was able to rest. It was all he ever wanted to do after full moon.

With a few Concealing Charms he was not quite sure he was going to be able to go to his home as a new man but neither would Harry be scared witless with any luck – something he often appeared to lack.

One day he knew they were going to have to tell him the truth over his condition. Harry was going to notice that he went out once a month.

But then that was a bridge he was going to have to cross when he came to it and not before.

Lying back, he shut his eyes. He did not think he had ever been so grateful to Dumbledore for all he had done for him because he knew that was where all this stretched back too. He had been a little werewolf boy who had not had a hope in hell of a decent life until he had met the professor who literally turned his life about.

Dumbledore had done a lot of good for a lot of people. He had been so angry with him since they had got Harry back for the way that the lad had been living, he had nearly forgotten the good he had done for him and he knew that was something he should not do.

He had a lot to be grateful for and since he and the other pair had found one another he knew that went for them as well as it did him.

He had been about to try and catch forty winks for he knew Harry was going to want some attention from him when he did get in, when he heard a pair of footsteps approach his bed.

"Headmaster." he said as he reopened his eyes and yet was shocked by whole found there. It was not Dumbledore.

"Snape."

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	9. Confrontations

**Chapter 8**

"To what do I owe the honour?" he asked as he sat up. Of everyone at Hogwarts, Snape was the last one he had thought was going to come and see him.

"I came on behalf of one who I once loved," he said to him and there was such a grief in his eyes that Remus found he did not know what to say for a moment; whatever he had thought Snape was going to say to him, it had not been that.

He did not need to ask who that one was. When they had been at school, just as they had all known James had been in love with Lily, they had known Severus had too.

He had been in love with his best friend since before he had been able to remember.

"And why do you feel you need to come for her?" he asked.

"Why do you think I felt I had to come for her?"

He looked at him and he knew what he was going to say before he had so much as opened his mouth. It was shocking to him how well he knew his old enemy. He did not think Sirius and he were up to raising her child and that was why he had come to him.

"Because you have come to ask me to tell Sirius we are not for the course we have taken and even if he is treated like a servant at his relative's house, we should give Harry back up to them. But if I am right and that is the case then I have to tell you that neither Sirius or I will ever agree to do such a thing."

Neither of them were surprised by the other. Maybe they had already got to the stage in their lives where very little did surprise them.

"I am still bound to come to you for her sake and ask you not to turn the boy in to a mini me of his father. To see his arrogance in her child would not be something she wished."

Remus did not know whether to just except that he was here as a friend who had loved Lily, or whether to order him to get out. He did not want to hear that there were those who did not think he and his best friend were not up to the task they had taken up.

"Don't you dare come in here telling me you are such a great friend of Lily when you let her son be abused for so many years," said Remus.

He knew he had not been any better but had he tried to get in there before he had Sirius support then he knew he would have been hunted down like the animal so many people considered him to be.

"I let him stay there because he was with his family."

If the dog had thought about it for a moment Severus suspected he could have worked out why he had not gone for him either. By the time the war had come to its end, he had had a criminal record for being a Death Eater. No; no matter the history he had had with his dear Lily they were never going to give the boy who lived to him.

But better a Death Eater had him than a Sirius Black.

He could just see already who he was going to strut about the castle when he got there as if he had been born to be there.

Well, he did not think he was going to be able to just sit back and watch it happen. She would not want him too of that he was sure.

"And it did not matter to you in what state he was being kept and how miserable he was. Blood ties are never going to be the bases for a family. That is something you never did and maybe you will never understand."

Maybe it was because he had been expecting him to be low after full moon but Severus had to say he was surprised when Remus begun to fight back. But for the first time in his life the werewolf had something he believed to be own. He had something special; he was never going to allow someone to bad mouth it and he was never going to allow anyone to take it away from him or tell him he should not have it.

Snape had no idea of what they had been through since they had been back together.

The sad thing was, if he really did miss Lily and was as devoted to her memory as he seemed to be then he could have been part of it. He did not believe he had no interest in Harry for if he did not then why was he there, trying to do what he thought in his twisted up little mind was best for him. This could not be just about Lily he thought to himself.

"Do not tell me what I do and what I don't understand about the meaning of the word family."

"Then don't you dare ask me to give up the one thing in my life that is good and pure." He said fiercely.

He did not get so defensive usually. But it had been so long since he had felt like this about anyone.

For the first time in a long while, he was beginning to remember what it felt like to be part of something which was fun and good. And he was willing to admit they were not perfect parents, Sirius and himself. Chances were they were never going to be and perhaps Harry might be better off without a pair of mutts like them. But what made the pair of them different was that unlike every other adult he had ever had in his life was that, they were _trying_. They were trying hard to do what was best for him.

And if Snape thought he was going to stop on the word of some greasy nosed prat he was wrong.

"Just get out. I need to have a bit of a sleep before I go back and see Harry. He has Lily's eyes you know? There beautiful."

It had been a long time since he had felt the need to be almost sadistic. But there had always been something about Severus. And even if he had been above it a lot of them time when they were at school, he was too tired at that moment to be the bigger man.

It was only when he saw how hurt Snape looked that he realised what he had said. He acted as James had when they were kids and he had to say he did not look back on the boy his mate he had been then with pleasure.

He would have stood by him through anything and he had done but he had never been too in awe of James to tell him when he had been wrong.

He had never been Sirius and now he was growing up he did not want to become like they were when they had been mere kids.

"Oh Severus, I didn't mean that. Please forgive me. It was a tough full moon."

But then he had known he was never going to get forgiveness for saying something like that and so he had to settle for seeing the back of Severus as he strolled away from him.

()()()

When he did get back to the flat, Remus did not think he had been so glad to see the back of one single full moon in quiet a long time. It was not just what he had done to himself that got to him but also what he had said to Severus.

He, who had always been the voice of reason,had lost his cool for just a moment and while he knew Sirius and Harry were not going to care what he had said to Severus, Harry because he had no idea who he was and Sirius because the truth was he would probably applaud him, he felt as if he had let himself down.

He was not a bully and he never had been. Even when he had been hanging about with Sirius and James, he had _always_ tried to be the voice of reason. The sensible one.

When he grew up he did not want Harry to act like that. He wanted him to be a good lad who helped people out rather than put them down. And so he should not be doing it if he wanted to show any kind of example to him. Even if he was doing it out of Harry's site...

He could hear James' voice in his head telling him Snape had only got off him what he had deserved but that was no excuse. When they had made enemies James had been a young man and Remus knew while he was not yet old he was not as young as James had been either. He had been given a precious gift when he had been given the time to grow up and he did not want to waste it when so many of his class mates (and to a certain degree be did include Sirius in that) had not been given it.

He had to make the most of the time he had been given.

He had been about the door a whole of ten seconds when a speeding mass of black messy hair run in to him. It was difficult thankfully now to remember what the flat had been like before he had had Harry's laughter to fill it. He did not want it to be that empty ever again.

Now well practised in the art of making Harry giggle Remus picked the lad up and begun to tickle him as a form of hello to keeping the shrieking running through the flat just a little longer.

And he had to say he did not want him look at him much as inevitable as it was he was going to see him now. No boy should have to see that. But he wanted to delay it.

Sirius on hearing the laughter was only able to assume Remus was back and soon came out to see him and as soon as he did he winced. He remembered when he had come back to school like that after he had 'seen his mum' when he had been a kid. That was why he had made Remus tell them what was really going on because he and James had got it into their heads that Remus' mum and dad were not very kind to their son – in fact, they had thought they were the type of parents Harry's aunt and uncle had turned out to be.

"Rough night mate?"

"Something like that."

Until that point Harry had been far too busy enjoying the attention he had been given to notice the state that his uncle had come back to him in but after his godfather had asked the question he stopped and looked at him.

Remus had known he was going to have to see sooner or later but when he did look at him it hurt for some reason. He did not think he was ever going to know why. But ever since he had got to Remus and to Sirius, Harry had had a relatively happy home. So to see Remus so hurt was a shock.

"I had a fight with a lamp post and lost Harry, don't you worry about me." Said Remus as he bent down and give him a kiss the boy but he did not seem very happy about it and scampered back to the safety of the living room.

As soon as he was out of ear shot the two surviving marauders made eye contact.

"Well, I hate to say it but he is going to have to get used to it." Murmured Sirius.

There were something's no matter how much he wanted to he was never going to be able to protect Harry from and he had to admit one of them was side affects Remus's condition.

When he was older he was going to be able to understand what went on. But that was not yet.

He wished it was because he hated the idea of Harry being scared. He seemed ok but then how could any kid be ok with someone they loved coming home looking as if they had had the crap beaten out of them.

"Why don't you go and stick the kettle on. I am going to be through in a sec but you know..." Sirius trailed off.

He did not want to say he had to go and comfort Harry but that was what he did have to. As much as he knew his friend had had a rough night they both knew they had to put the child first. But making Remus feel bad for something which was not his fault was not what Sirius wanted to do either.

Knowing where his duty lay though he walked the path his god son had just taken to find the lad watching cartoons on the muggle TV they had. It had been one of the many pleasure he had been denied when he had been living with his aunt and uncle and one of the things Sirius had Remus decided would be good for him – a little normality in a crazy world.

"Hey buddy are you ok?" he said as he went in to the room and he had been ready for Harry to be a bit shocked by it, but when he walked into the room he saw there were real tears in the lads eye. He had not been expecting that.

"Who hurt Remus?"

He hated the idea that someone had been horrible enough to hurt someone he loved.

"Mate, I know it is very hard for you to understand what went on but what happened to Remus is nothing more than an accident."

For the first time since he got him back Sirius realised he was lying to Harry. The events of the night had not been an accident and Sirius knew that long ago someone had hurt his best friend as to make him... like this.

It was not what Harry meant, for how could he know but it still made Sirius feel just horrible. And he knew Harry understood he was not telling him something. A stupider kid than Harry would know he was not owning up to something and he believed his godson was a very smart boy.

Harry could not like the feeling he was keeping something from him. But how could a six year old be expected to understand one of his guardians was a werewolf? He had only just got used to the two of them being wizards.

Just as he had got it when Harry had tried to explain why he did not want him to go out with Remus when it had been full moon, Harry quickly seemed to grasp the idea there was a reason his good father was not telling him the truth.

After all, up until that point Sirius knew he had always tried to be very open and very honest with him. Had he a choice, then he would have been but he did not seem to find a way that he could be.

Knowing that Sirius was not going to tell him even if he did ask what was going on, Harry decided it was about time that he put his god father out of his misery.

Moving closer to him, he wrapped his arms about him. He had been so scared when he had seen Remus but the fact that Sirius did not seem over concerned did do something to settle him he had to admit.

If the two of them were not stressing over it then maybe he should not be either.

Eager to believe that the young lad had some sort of grasp on what was going on in his life, Sirius hugged him back fiercely and dropped a kiss in to his hair before he lay back, Harry still tightly wrapped in his arms.

"I swear I will tell you all one day buddy. But for now you have to accept it when I say it is nothing for you to worry over. Let me look after you."

Harry thought about what he was saying for a moment and he knew he was never going to like it but he had been with Sirius long enough to know when he said something he meant it.

Harry had no choice but to admit he had lost that round. "Ok."

Remus was holding his head in his hands when Sirius came back out to him and as they looked at one another both Marauders knew how tired other was. He was always and had always been out of it a couple of days after the New Moon. That was just the way it was. Considering, it was amazing he had managed to do so well at school when he had got there.

"Was it that bad?" he asked quietly as he sat down opposite him and Remus shook his head.

"It was a lot better than all the others one had before you and Harry were here to come home too. They were the ones that killed me. Don't worry," he said to him. "Not about the effects of the full moon any way. "

"What do you mean by that?"

"There is one up at the castle who rather we did not have the little man under our care," he sighed.

For a moment Sirius looked confused. Had he not been there then he knew he would have been as well. After all, Sirius had been through since he had been in jail, their feud with Snape must have looked like small fry. And it had been so long since they were in one another lives.

So unimportant was Snape to Sirius these days that he seemed to have forgotten all about him.

Remus then doubted his wisdom of having told Sirius what had gone on. After all, the last thing he wanted to do was reignite the hate they he had had one another when they had been young.

Really they were all too old for such a thing now. They were not teenagers at Hogwarts any more. They were adults and there was a kid in the middle of it now.

"Does Dumbledore regret helping us get him back? Is he going to try and take Harry from me because I swear I would rather see the old man dead than give him back the boy."

Sirius had a dark look in his eyes. Remus had not seen it since he was a kid and he had been talking about the people he had no choice but to be tied to by blood. He had hated them – and it panicked Remus. Was it the idea of giving Harry back or the professor who was the root of his friend's anger?

"It is not him and I promise you no one is going to take the lad away from the two of us - not now."

It would be far too cruel on all three of them to be separated and it was never going to come to that.

"Well, then who is it that thinks we should not have him – who would dare to?"

It was only then that it dawned on Remus that his friend had no idea there old enemy was now teaching at Hogwarts. He had been out of the loop for so long.

"No one – it is not important, ignore me," he said suddenly changing his mind about telling Sirius what had gone on. But even as he had said the words he had known it was not going to work.

If someone had so much as suggested Harry was not best placed with him, then he was going to make sure they knew to shut their mouth's as they were speaking out of turn.

He did not get how someone who had been free (for they must have been if they were at the castle) had the balls to criticised him for trying to give Harry a loving and stable home when no one else had done a thing to help the lad when he had been in jail. To him it seemed anyone who had been able to had not so much as lifted a finger nail to help his godson when he had been away and to him that was unforgivable. Nothing would change that view of his.

"Don't be a fool Remus; you have known me long enough to know that I cannot ignore something like this. I don't want there to be a person out there in the world saying stuff like that. What if it were to get back to Harry somehow?"

He did not like to think what the lads reaction would be if he were to hear that he was going to be taken away from him. Even if it was just a rumour...

God, he got scared enough at the thought of the two of them going out for the night.

Knowing he had no choice but to go through with what he was saying and that Sirius was not going to let it drop until he did.

"Ok but you have to promise me that you are not going to go off on one."

"You know I can't do that."

It was the first row they had had since he had been back it dawned on Sirius. He knew he had a short fuse when it came to the welfare of the lad but he did not want to lose it with Remus. How long had the two of them been friends? And they were the last two left from the Hogwarts days.

They were brothers.

But neither were saints.

"It was Snape."

Sirius burst out laughing, hysterically. "Oh that is a good one Remus. For a moment you had me going that it was someone whose opinion mattered."

Remus had to say he was not sure how to take the reaction. To say he had been worried his friend might be a little unhinged when he came home from jail was an understatement but this was the first time he had seen any evidence of that. He had always thought that deep down Sirius was fine after all he had been through – or maybe that had just been what he had wanted to believe.

When he stopped laughing though the light his eyes was ore taken by the anger again as he sighed. "He always was an idiot."

"It doesn't matter."

"No..." Sirius muttered as he turned away in to the living room to be with his godson but Remus had a terrible feeling that this wasn't over – that somehow, Sirius was already trying to think of a way to make him pay for what he had said.

When Harry awoke in the middle of the next night, he suddenly felt very awake, he wasn't afraid or unhappy and he did not think he had even had a bad dream but he knew he wanted to play. Knowing Sirius was going to be in the living room, he decided his best bit was to try and sneak in and take his toys out and back to his room.

The fact he had the confidence to do something such as this surely was a sign of the fact that he was slowly but surely healing.

But when he got there and he opened the door he got the shock of his life – for Sirius was not there.

_Please review!_

**Author Note: **I am so sorry for the delay on the chapter guys – hunt down my lecturers and tutors, not me! I wish I could promise another chapter in the coming weeks but I am still drafting chapter 9. I will have one up for Christmas for you though! Thank you all for your patience.


	10. On The Edge

**Chapter 9**

Sirius did not think he had ever needed a drink so much since the night he had learnt James was dead. He told himself he was being stupid and he was over reacting but there was a rage in him. He did not think he was going to be able to control for a lot longer and his nerves needed to be calmed.

There was only one thought going about in his head and that was how dare that little snake pass judgement on the way he was trying to being up his godson. At least he had been trying to do something for Lily and James. He did not think Snape had ever done anything for them, especially not for her who he claimed was so beloved by him... he had not done anything for Harry that was for sure...

And he was never going to either he thought as he brooded over what the man had said. How _dare _he insinuate that he might not be the best person to take care of Harry? That phrase just kept going round and round his head.

Lily and James had agreed. If they were not there then the boy was to go straight to him; that was what they had said; what they had wanted.

She had been one of the ones to make that decision. _How dare _he think he knew better?

He was going to make damn sure that he did not think that for a lot longer.

()()()()

"Moony, Moony!" cried Harry as he went in to his room and climbed up on the big bed that the werewolf slept in.

"What is it mate?" said the sleepy adult as he came round, groggily wiping the sleep from his eyes. Of all the nights he had been hoping to sleep right through, that was among those he had needed to the most.

He was almost instantly though. In the time since he and Sirius had had Harry, he did not ever remember him coming in to him like this in the night.

"Sirius isn't here!"

()()()

Severus rarely slept well or peacefully, and that night it seemed to evade him entirely. He had never been a very deep sleeper. Even when he had been a little child he did not think he slept particularly soundly.

He had always been too worried about his father or his mother and then when he had met Lily at last, he had spent many night awakes just thinking of her beauty and all that she had come to meant to him in such a short space of time. Even when he looked back on their friendship it still amazed him how intense he had been about her from a very young age. He had known – or he had thought he had - they were going to be together and he knew it was idiotic - but that had been his plan since he was a very young lad.

Lily had been so different to everyone else he had ever known. He had never been able to talk to anyone the way he way he was able to talk to her. She had managed to change his life from day one. it had been the little thing she had said as well as what she had done...

And he had loved her from the start and all along.

There had not been a day when he had not loved her, whether it had been from her side or from afar.

Getting out of bed for what had to be fourth time that night already, he went through to the living room. He knew he was not going to go back to bed that night. He had never needed a lot of sleep and the elder he got the less he needed.

When he dreamed all he dreamt of was her and the past they had once shared. And he did not know if he loved those dreams or he hated them. He missed her so much that it was torturous. But he loved to think she was close by him still. When he had got out of jail he had told himself there were going to come a day when he did not dream of her but as of yet that prophecy had not come true...

He had done a lot wrong when he had been young and he could only guess that as punishment for his crime, he had to endure his life without her.

If he had to do it then he would – after all, life was not fair after all.

But what hurt was he did not even know if they were going to be together in death or if she was going to stay with her _beloved_ James.

He had been nothing sort of horrified when she had softened toward him. He had just not seen it coming. She had lead him to believe by the way that she acted that it was going to be there against the world for ever. She had hated him as much as he had or at least she had said she did.

But then as they had got older she had changed in a way he had thought she could not, would not. To him it seemed she remained beautiful but the morality he had always found in her waned. And then she let Potter in to her life.

He had been so angry but when she had been there, he had been able to do nothing to stop her making the biggest mistake of her life. Of course, he had had no idea of just how devastating it was going to be when the end came but he had known it was not going to end well. All he could do now was regret that he had not got her out sooner.

And, of course, protect her son.

There were going to be those in the world who did not understand why he did try too and there were going to be those who thought it was a betrayal for him to protect Harry. But in truth they did not concern him.

He had to do it for her. And if that meant he had to get the lad away from those idiots then that was going to be what he did.

Even if he resented the choices she had made which he very much did he was not going to let her down again. Even if he disliked parts of her personality which had been altered... he loved her still.

Picking up his clock once he had changed into his day robes, he walked out of the dungeons and up in to the school. He had never been very good at relaxing and the older he got, just as his sleep got worst, so did his inability to unwind. He could only assume the two of them were related. But he had rather taken to strolling about Hogwarts at night. It was one of the few ways he was able to rebel and while he had never been a marauder, he had always been rebellious.

To rebel had been one of the only ways he had been able to get through some days. When he had seen her go off ... he had **had** to do something.

He could not sit idle.

But the problem was instead of just going off, he had completely gone off of the rails and by the time he had had the sense to try and get back on them he knew he had lost her forever. Had he done things different, maybe his whole life would have been very different? But it was a rare day or night he let himself wallow.

Just as rebelling had been the only way he had been able to survive when he had been young, not thinking, not remembering, was the only way he got through then.

He didn't want to remember and as anti social as he was, he did not like to be on his own with his thoughts for too long... when the war had ended he had found the damn mirror and that had taught him not to well.

But try as he might to stop them, memories of her coursed through him...

Thoughts drove men mad. But the only thought he had then was he would feel better once he had had a drink at the pub and so that was where he was heading.

Even thought it was the middle of the night, he knew Rosmerta was not going to have shut up shop for the night yet. She had never been one to go to bed early and the nearer it got to Christmas, the more she liked to have a twenty four hour pub it seemed which was and always had been fine by him.

Grasping his hands together for warmth, he breathed on to them to try and get them warmer, off guard for a moment and not looking where he was going. He bumped into something – or someone.

"Watch where your – "

"Expelliarmus!" And just like that it had happened and he had lost his wand. He who was always on alert, who never allowed his guard down – and he felt as if he had just been taken for a fool which was not a feeling he liked no matter who did it to him. He felt violated.

But it made him even angrier when he looked in to the eyes of a laughing Sirius Black.

When he had heard he was back, he had known they were going to come face to face some time for no matter whether they hated one another or not, their lives had been bound together by Lily and the choices she had made.

There was something in Black's eye that told him he was furious and he knew Lupin would have told him what he had said when he went to him. The two of them living together meant they were more like a married couple then ever and of course neither of them would dare keep a secret from the other.

"And thus Black you prove my point that the boy is not safe with you."

And as he heard the taunt, Sirius knew he was closer to the edge than he had been since he had gone to pay Harry's aunt and uncle a little visit. He was not going to lie to himself because it had never done him any favours and he knew at that moment if he could fix it that the vile and foul man in front of him never darkened his or his families days again, then he would do it in a heartbeat - he wanted to get him so far out of there lives that he was never able to come back in to them.

But he knew if he did that then he was going to lose the lad no matter what he did. It would not matter if he was his guardian or not if he was a murderer. Harry would be right back to where he had come from and it would be worse for him because he was beginning to know there was another kind of life.

He had been driven out of the flat by his anger – he had thought when the two of them had come face to face he was going to shout and scream and rip him to shreds if he could. But to know he could take his wand from him - that was somehow enough.

Because what was he going to have when he got back to to his apartment? No one. Severus Snape was alone. And as twisted as he knew it made him, that fact made Sirius grin. The thought that Snape had no one made him glad. It was no less than he deserved.

And then by contrast he remembered his own home which was not as half as full as he would like it to be in an ideal world, but it was warm enough to be the most enticing place in the world to him at that moment. He had a friend he knew he was never going to lose, no matter what, for Remus would always stand by him. He had proved that long ago. And he had a lad who he loved as a son.

Was he really going to allow Snape to take all that from him?

No. The threat he could do something if he wanted to he worked out was enough.

The thing he could not allow to happen was for his temper to get the better of him and then lose his own life all under his own steam. So before Snape could say anything else to him he tossed back his wand and apparated right out of the situation. He could only trust himself to stay there for so long without someone to tell him to not be stupid, a role both Remus and James had fulfilled more than once in the years which they had had together. He wanted to say so much to him but at times actions spoke a lot louder than words.

This was one of those times. He had a little boy to get back too.

\/\/\/\/\/

By the time that Sirius got back to the flat, Remus was worried over Harry. Though he was not crying it was quite obvious that he was scared that his godfather had left him without telling him where he was going.

He remembered the way they had had to coax him into being ok when they had gone out, every time since he had been there. Neither of them had left him without saying so and Remus was sure that had been part of the reason he had been able to settle in to life with them relatively quickly, considering he had had no contact with either of them before they had got him out of his aunts and uncles. Because they were predictable and he had known what they were going to do – and they had always been there. With them he was secure.

Remus had tried his best to bring him out of himself by giving him his toys to play with but since he had found Sirius gone the only thing Harry had wanted to do was crawl up in a ball in his lap and wait for him to return.

In the end, he had had to accept it – forcing Harry to play when he did not want to was only going to cause the lad to turn in to himself and he knew it. There was a real fear in Remus that they were going to face a setback in his progress due to this. He hardly got used to the scars on his face before the pair of them had been left alone. So he had been hurt and Sirius had left with in twenty four hours and he knew the pair of them had been trying to give the illusion to Harry since he got there that nothing like either of those things was ever going to take place in _their_ home.

_Please don't let this break his trust in us... _

When he had got back from the full moon he knew now he should have said nothing of what had gone on. Much of the time since he had come back, Sirius had seem so normal that in truth the werewolf did guess he had forgotten his friend had been through a lot. They had been so focused on the child. True, Sirius had not been much of a sleeper but he had been so good with Harry that he had let him fool him he was fine. But he could and at times was volatile. Remus had been a fool to forget that.

But how on earth where you meant to come out of a place like Azkaban and be fine? That was not the point of the place was it? It had indeed been designed to break people. Sirius had been strong enough to survive and he had had his innocence as a way of warding off the Dementors but he _had_ been altered when he had been in there.

He knew that now...

Dropping a kiss on to Harry's forehead, he sighed.

He had never been a relaxed child but it was a rare occasion he had the misfortune to see him so worked up. It was obvious he did not feel the warm security he and Sirius had tried to wrap him up in since he had been with them at that moment.

"He is going to be back here soon." But guilt stabbed at him as he realised that might very well be a lie. The truth was he had no idea when Sirius was going to be back and to be fair to the boy he should not get him worked up for his return.

However, he had to believe he was going to be back soon as well because he knew as stupid is it was he felt as if he had left him as well. Not in the same way Harry did of course, but when two adults lived together they were meant to let the other know what they were doing, weren't they? Especially when there was a little kid involved. Even a note would have made things easier to explain to the little lad. Ever since he had been back the two of them had been a lot closer than they had been when they were at school. He knew that had been because there was no James about (and he wished to god that was not the case). But it was – and he had felt he had been able to trust him to tell him what was going on.

He should have kept his mouth shut - and yet at the same time, he should have been able to rely on his best friend to act as an adult with a child would.

\/\/\/\/

As he made his way back to the flat, Sirius felt as if he had got out of his system what he had needed too – it had been enough what he had done.

It had made his feel alive as he had been when he had been young. It had made him feel as it had that night when he had been at the cursed. As if he did still have a little say about what went on in his life. And that was enough for him.

Going back up the stair well he was once again reminded he had to start trying to find somewhere else for them. He did not want to bring Harry up in the city.

They should live someone other than here... as much as the flat was home, the city wasn't. They should be able to see the stars in the sky at night.

With a wave of his wand the door was opened and he was back inside but when he got in there he was worried to find the place was not dark as it had been when he had left it.

The lights – both the ones in the kitchen and the living room were on – and Harry and Remus's doors were opening...

Meaning only one thing... That he had woken up when he had been out and he did not need to see his godson to know how much he would be freaked out of over it. And suddenly the victory he had had over Snape turned sour in his month.

Poking his head in to the kitchen he saw it was empty which meant the others had to be in the living room and sure enough when he got in there, there they were.

Harry had crawled in to Remus arms and he did not look as if he had slept at all, though he knew he had been peaceful before he had gone out as he had stuck his head about the door. The lad was rigid in Remus arms and had his toy bear under his arm. He looked even younger than he was; and scared. He had said he was never going to be scared again – he had let him down.

"Hey kid," he said as he got in to the room.

Harry's attention was on him and he could not bear the way that the lad was looking at him - there was definite suspicion there and there was not that unending trust he had in him to begin with – but that only gone a moment before it returned. Harry _wanted_ to trust him whole heartedly. And so wrong or right he would.

As soon as he took him in his arms, he could feel how tense Harry had been when he had been out – he had got good at reading his little mans mood and for what he had done to him, he cursed himself.

He had been so careful up till then.

"You ok?" he asked and Harry nodded quickly.

"Where were you Padfoot?"

It was the only thing Harry had cared about when he had been out – where he was and why he had gone.

"I just felt a little bit ill – I just wanted to get a bit of air. But I am home now," he said as cuddled him close. "I am so sorry, I didn't tell you where I was but I did not want to get you up, little man. You looked so comfy," he explained trying to keep his voice flippant. He did not want to turn this in to a big thing when it did not have to be.

He knew if Harry wanted something then it was hard for them to say 'no', on account of all he had been through but if Remus had had an ounce of sense then he would have kept him in bed, he thought to himself, eager to rebound the blame for the situation.

He should have thought quicker.

"Now why don't I take you back to your room, Harry? It is one o'clock and you should be asleep by now," he said as he kissed his cheek again.

Harry did not look so sure, but nodded. Sirius wished the lad had his father's wilfulness so that if he did not want to he would just come out and say it. Normally he would have offered Harry the choice of staying up if he really wanted to but he knew he and Remus had plenty to say to one another.

"Ok," said a still unhappy Harry.

"I am here ok? It is all, going to be fine," said Sirius tenderly. He did feel bad for what he done to the lad. And he knew this was what he had signed up for. But he was longing for the confident godson he had thought of in his dreams.

Maybe it was time to stop pussy footing about the lad, perhaps it was time to stop walking on the egg shells. But not that night.

Very gently he laid his godson back on the bed and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "I am sorry if I scared you. I love you." He said as he tried to smooth back Harry's dark hair.

"I know - it is ok," said Harry with a small smile just happy that he was back home.

"I am going to be just outside in the sitting room, so if you need me, come get me, ok? I am not going to be out." He said as he gave him a final reassuring squeeze.

It was brought home to him for the millionth time that Harry was the best thing that had ever happened to him and nothing in the world was ever going to change that for it never could. Harry was his world, and he had rarely felt as guilty as he did in that moment.

Getting up, he gave the lad a last wink and before going out in to the living room once more where he knew he was going to have to face a very unhappy Remus. Sealing the room off so that Harry would not hear what they were going to say, he sighed.

"I take it you don't want a cuddle then?"

Remus' face was set and for a minute Sirius really thought he was going to hit him. It didn't help that what Remus was feeling had already been compounded by the god awful night he had had the night before.

It was hardly surprising her was not happy.

"You're not even a little bit funny."

"How was I meant to know he was going to get up? I just needed five minutes to get my head together." But even as he said the words he knew Remus was not going to buy it. He knew him better than anyone.

"So you going out had nothing to do with Severus?"

He stayed silent.

"Sirius, for god's sake, we are not at Hogwarts any more – let it go!" Remus said as he picked up the coffee cup he had been drinking out of. He had to get to bed. No matter how much caffeine he pumped in to himself he was always going to sleep fairly well after a full moon. But talking to Sirius was only going to get him more worked up and that was going to keep him up.

"I have – it is him who has not... going on about things he has no idea about." He said broodingly as he sat down.

"You sound like a little kid," Remus said accusingly even though he knew it made him a hypocritical which was something he had never aspired to be. "Did you not to stop and think about Harry for just one moment?"

"Of course I did – he is all I ever think about. I just wanted to shut Snape up." he said to him. He could not bear the thought that mad was passing judgement on them and he was not going to deny that fact to his best friend. He couldn't.

"You didn't do anything rash did you?"

"Do you really have to ask me that?"

"After what happened the night James and Lily dies, yes I do."

"Well, do you think if I had that I would be just sitting here? I wanted to do something rash. And I think if the circumstances had been different then I might have – but there is a little lad in the next room who needs me," He said to him seriously, diffusing the situation between the two of them somewhat.

Remus, satisfied he was telling the truth shook his head. The last couple of days had been pretty pressured. It was no wondered they were both on the wrong side of tense.

Sirius was an idiot at times – but then he had always known that.

"I am going to turn in," he sighed. God only knew he needed too.

"Harry can't panic every time we leave him Remus – it is only five years till we're going to be sending him to Hogwarts – we need to nip this in the bud." He said thoughtfully.

The werewolf thoroughly agreed. But it was not the time to be discussing it. He had to get back to bed. However, he had an awful feeling that the events of the past day were not over. And when later that week, Dumbledore called on them, he knew that feeling had been right.

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	11. A Request and An Apology

**Chapter 10**

Harry seemed to be getting used to Dumbledore the more time he spent with him – but then that was like anything, thought Remus. The longer you knew it or had to put up with it the more it became normal. Which was why he tried not to show how annoyed he had been with Sirius to the lad.

The two of them at logger heads was not want he wanted Harry to be used too.

But days later he still felt wound up with him.

It was not so much that he had gone out without telling him what was getting to him but it was the fact he knew he had gone out looking for trouble.

The lot of them had done it when they had been at school. Even though he had meant to have been the 'good one', he had enjoyed plotting a good prank as much as the others had and it would only make him a further hypocrite to deny it.

He still wished he was able to take back what he had done. That was the difference between him and Sirius he thought to himself. When he went wrong, he_ did_ regret it whereas he was not so sure Sirius did.

There was a lot of anger in the Animagus. He knew he had a right to be angry after all he had been through over the last few years – he had barely had time to grieve for what he had lost before he had thrown himself head first into being a godfather.

But he really did have to let it go if he was going to be what Harry needed. The boy did not need all that anger in his life.

Since his little trip out at night, if anything, Sirius had been more devoted to Harry than ever and Harry, as a consequence, barely let him out of his sight. If he so much as tried to leave the room Harry tried to follow him.

"Pup, I am going to be back in a minute," Sirius would often say to him while teasing him to try and draw out some laughter which he always got.

But Harry wasn't happy. He needed to learn that the majority of people were far more like Sirius than his uncle Vernon. And the only way they were going to do that was by getting him out to meet people.

But for now that was a work in progress. It was Wednesday evening when the professor popped over. It was getting chillier as winter drew on, but not so cold that Sirius and Harry had not escaped the flat for a trip to the park that day.

He had wanted to get him out to avoid the atmosphere. As he had been reminded so many times since they had been together, Harry might be quiet but he was not dumb. Indeed, the kid picked up on everything and he knew there was something wrong.

"Why are you and Remus angry with each other?" he had asked when they were out and it had hammered home the need to Sirius to sort out what was going on between them. It wasn't fair on the lad.

He had tried to make up an answer that was going to satisfy him. But he knew he was only really going to happy again when the two of them were happy with one another. They might not be conventional parents but they were a pair of parents none the less.

As if he knew the times that the flat worked on the professor arrive in the half an hour time slot that Remus and Sirius had allocated to Harry between bath time and bed time. Sirius knew as much as he did not trust him that Dumbledore, in his way, had cared about Lily and James and as an extension of that he did care what happened to Harry. Perhaps it was only natural that he should want to keep an eye on him. But he had a guardian for that. And as much as he would love to think that the professor could fall in to the role of a comfortable grandfather for Harry, Sirius had known him long enough to know there was nearly always an alternative motive with him.

And so he had to be cautious.

The lad was not as awkward as he had been about him though he had to admit that. And the two of them were always going to be bounded together by the fact that he was one of the people who had saved him from the cupboard.

"How are you tonight?" the professor asked the little boy once he had said hello to the adults after fluing in to the flat.

"I am good," Harry said, a little more confidently than he would have a few weeks before hand.

All Albus had to do was look at him to know that Remus and Sirius were good for the lad and there was no question of it being otherwise. They might not have seen the progress the pair of them had made with him as clearly as he did because they had been about him all of the time, yet all_ he_ had to do was look at the boy to see it was a much happier Harry Potter who was living with them in comparison to the one who had been made to live in the cupboard under the stairs.

But for all that the boy was a lot happier, he still stood by the decision he had made when he had sent him to his aunt and uncle's. There was no one in the wizarding world who could have brought him up to be grounded. He did not know how many letters he had got from members of the public to try and use for them his influence at the ministry to allow them to adopt Harry when James and Lily died. But he had known if he had, then there had been no chance of him even trying to have a normal childhood. Of course, he had hardly got that when he had been with his relatives but he had been grounded.

Over confidence could be well a fatal flaw in Harry and a trait which they could not allow to develop in him. When he got older he was going to have a lot of responsibility on his shoulders and even if they were not at that stage yet, they were well aware that they could not be idle in his preparation for it. At least, he was.

He did approve of what Sirius and Remus were doing with the lad but he also knew that he had never been in danger of developing over confidence so much as since he had been brought to live with them. It was not that he did not want him to be a confident happy boy but his confidence had to be in moderation. James had been so aware of his own power and it had put him in danger from time to time. Harry _had_ to differ from his father.

Everything had to be in moderation.

"And you are liking living here with Sirius and Remus?" he said to him with a smile but it was clear from the way he was with them that he did.

After throwing Sirius a cheeky smile though he shook his head in a very James like way.

"Only a little bit."

Sirius could not suppress his laughter. He knew when he had gone out and come back to find Harry so upset that they could have suffered a bit of a setback in the way that he was developing, but he was glad to say that had not been the case. In the time they had spent together since, he seemed to be growing in confidence a little if anything.

The only thing he regretted was that he and Remus had hardly spent any time together with him of late. He knew Harry was happiest when it was the three of them were fooling about together.

"Well then, I am going to have to make sure I am just a bit better then aren't I till you absolutely love it!" said Sirius as he launched a tickle attack, knowing deep down he already absolutely loved being with him.

No, what he really wanted was for the day to come when they could joke about sending him back from where he came from – they never would do it of course. But he did not think they were there yet and he was not going to freak him out by even kidding about it before he had to put him to bed.

Remembering he did have to send him off to bed in a moment, he stopped his assault. Harry had to calm down.

As he stopped tickling him, he found Harry, who had got so used to his routine, simply cuddled down in his arms and attempted to let himself unwind. He was far more relaxed than he had been when he had first got there but there was now always that worry in the back of his mind that when he got up, Sirius was not going to be there; it did scare him. He just did not want to let it show. And he had said he was going to be there so he had to trust him. He needed to trust Sirius.

While Sirius knew his godson was dedicated to the two of them, perhaps he did not realise just how devoted Harry was to him especially. Had Remus been the first one to pull him out of the cupboard, he would have been the one who the lad looked up to the most but he knew that moment had had a profound effect on Harry.

Now Sirius represented to him all that seemed to be good; and even when it had seemed as if his halo might have slipped, he has managed to recover it very quickly from the trusting child.

"And are you looking forward to Christmas?" asked the professor and Harry nodded.

He had to say he had been so focused on getting settled in to life with his new guardians that he had not given a lot of thought to it. But he knew it was going to be very different to the way it had been in the previous years and he had enough confidence to know whatever they were going to do over the upcoming festive season, he was not going to be side lined for a moment of it.

"I think it is going to be lot of fun this year. First one all three of us," he said as he leant in to Sirius and got an approving kiss on his forehead from his godfather. Feeling secure, Harry yawned.

"I think it is time for someone to go to bed," said Remus knowingly.

"But I am not even tired yet!" Harry said to them even thought every person in the room knew it was a lie.

"Yes you are." Said Sirius to him knowingly as he picked him up. "Professor, can you just give me a moment please?" Sirius said. "Come on Pup," he sighed.

"Of course," Dumbledore nodded. "Sleep well Harry."

"I think he is going to. No matter what he say he is worn out – it was all that running about with Padfoot wasn't it?" Remus said as he gave him a kiss on his forehead. "Night mate."

"Night Moony." He nodded as he disappeared about the corner to bed.

"I hope the two of you are proud of yourselves for what you are doing for that boy so far. He is a lot happier than he was before and seems more confident every time I see him."

"I hope he is." Remus nodded as he took the seat which Sirius has been in. Slowly over the course of the week, the fresh scars from the full moon had begun to fade and he had regained some of his strength, but he knew it was not going to be long until he had to give it up to the next full moon once more. Yet, he could not think his life was cursed any more. He had been blessed in many ways.

"You know he is."

"Well, either way, I think we all know he has a long way to go before he becomes a child once more yet." He sighed. He had been such a little adult when he got there and he did not think he was ever going to forget the way he had felt when he had worked out Harry had no idea how to play properly. It had just been one of the saddest moments of his life.

Needing to move the conversation on, he turned to the older man once more and shook the unpleasant thoughts from his mind.

"So what can the two of us do for you tonight?" he asked even though he knew where this was going to go. It was too much of a coincidence that after all that had gone on between the two of them and Severus that they should suddenly get a visit.

"I think it might be best if we were to wait for Sirius to get back before we start talking. This involves him and a choice he has to make more than anything else." Said Dumbledore thoughtfully.

"Can you at least give me a hint so that I might try to gage how he is going to react?" Ever since the Severus episode, Remus had had his guard up a bit more when it came to Sirius and reactions. He wanted to be one step ahead of his friend at that moment.

"I don't think he is ever going to agree to that!" Remus said once Dumbledore had told him of his proposal. He was not even sure he wanted to himself – it would bring about one big turn about in the relationship between the three men.

It would have to – and perhaps that in itself was not an entirely negative thing. They would have to grow up for Harry's sake if no one else's.

He knew what James would say if he heard the proposal and he did not need to think on it for too long as he knew Sirius was going to be putting that case forward none too soon – but he did not think Lily would see it as a bad thing. With her habit for surprising people he thought she just might be in favour of it. And the marauders could try and deny it until the cows had come home, but Severus had been a very dear friend of hers at one point.

They might have to find a way to respect that.

"Well, no, I did not seriously think he was going to jump at it which is why I think I am going to need your help to talk him round," Dumbledore admitted. "How are your powers of persuasion these days?"

Remus shrugged. He was not sure if he was going to be able to influence him so much at that moment and he did not know if he _wanted_ to talk him in to this. But if Dumbledore was able to make a convincing argument and if he did think it was for the best then, of course, he would aid him.

"He takes a little bit of time to settle," said Sirius as he came back in to the room but he was obviously unapologetic for the amount of time he had kept the professor waiting. After all, he was never going to be sorry for being a decent godfather.

"Not at all," Dumbledore said as Sirius took up the arm chair as his seat. "The two of you are obviously very attached to one another!" he said knowing there has never been a bigger understatement.

"Well, he is my boy, isn't he?"

He had accepted he was going to have a bigger part in his life than many godfathers had in the lives of their god children and he was not going to deny it for he loved that fact.

"Indeed," He said as the two of them skirted why he had come that night – which they had been doing for long enough. With no little ears about to prevent them from talking freely, Albus decided it was best if they were to just get on with it as it were. "Severus came to me and he told me about the altercation the two of you had."

Sirius nodded.

He had known that as soon as Dumbledore had got there and it had not needed to be stated.

"So the snake told you how I took his sweets, did he?" he said with a roll of his eyes.

"Sirius, will you just give it a rest and let the man say what he needs to?" Remus snapped. But rather than argue back as he might have done, Sirius did the right thing and he held his tongue. Remus knew he did not like the two of them being at odds any more than he did.

Allowed to go on with what he was saying, Dumbledore nodded appreciatively at the werewolf. "No, he did not in so many words but he did tell me how you disarmed him. Sirius, that was foolish. The two of you do not need to return your old grudge match. For Harry's sake, you _should _not. You need to be pouring all of your energies in to that little boy not worrying about what Severus is doing at Hogwarts."

Sirius knew he was moments away from saying that Snape had been the one to 'start it' but he did not think that was going to go down to well with the others. He knew what they were saying and what's more was, even though he did not want to at that moment, he agreed with every word of it.

He did not want to have to waste time on Snape. There was no point in it and he knew if he did then he was going to be letting Lily and James down.

"I know that." He said quietly. He felt as if he was back in the headmaster's office after he had pulled a prank; as if he was getting a dressing down and he had thought he was not going to be able to make him feel like that anymore.

And he knew he should not be able to make him feel that way for he was a parent but he – he felt young at that moment and not in a good way. When he was with Harry, he found the lads laughter was enough affirmation of what he was doing right. But when he was faced with a litany of his faults as a surrogate father – well, he felt small and foolish for even attempting to be a look after Harry.

He knew who he was and he was never going to be able to win any prizes for maturity.

But he only knew how to learn through trial and error. If one thing did not work then you turned to another method and you tried that, and you kept doing it until you got it right. He knew it was not very fair when you had a child involved but it was the best he could do. For the millionth time he thought that James and Lily should be there with them. They had been the ones who had wanted the responsibility of a kid full time, he had not asked for this. No, his role had meant to be being the 'cool' one and whisking Harry (and most likely James too) off to Quidditch matches every other weekend. That had been the role he had wanted to carve out for himself when he had looked into the future. He had never seen this until the war had really turned darker and more brutal in the months running up to Halloween. When he had been asked to take Harry in, he had said yes without a second thought for he had not been able to even concede the thought of someone else doing it.

But at the same time, he had been thinking how he hoped for Harry's sake it did not come to this. No one deserved him as a guardian, idiotic mut that he knew he was...

And yet it had...

"What is it you want me to do?"

He did not think he was able to look to deep in to himself at that moment because he was not happy with what he was finding.

"I want you and Severus to build your bridges. And believe it or not, I want you to prove him wrong." Said Dumbledore with a nod and for near the first time since he had been there he knew he had caught the Gryffindor's attention.

"What do you mean exactly?"

"I mean I want you to show Severus that you are bringing Harry up the right way – and I want him to be able to see the evidence of that for himself."

Sirius could not help but wonder where the alternative motive was here – he could not see much of one save for self satisfaction. For all that he was a conniving old man, part of Sirius did want to believe that Dumbledore still cared for them as he had thought when they were kids. Part of him wanted to be naive once more.

But then he knew he cared for Severus too. He had to for it was his behalf he had come...

_I want him to be able to see the evidence of that for himself... _

"What do you mean by that you want him to 'see the evidence?'" he asked.

If he was saying what he thought he was, that he wanted him to give Severus access to Harry, then there was no way in a million years that he was going to get his wish.

He saw the cogs had been turning in Sirius head and it had not taking him long to get to the right conclusion. He had always been a smart child and that and continued as he had grown up.

"if you are saying that you want me to that man near Harry, then I have to tell you, professor, that you have no chance!" he said, laughing it off as if it was preposterous, which to him it was.

"Is it such a bad idea?" asked Remus before he was able to stop himself. He knew as soon as he had heard that Sirius was going to think that he had taken leave of his senses but he had to wonder.

"What are you on about?"

"I am on about the fact that Professor Dumbledore is right Sirius. You were the one going on about shutting him up and I think this has to be a better method than threatening him in the middle of the night at Hogsmeade,"He pointed out.

"You have lost your marbles," Sirius muttered as Remus shook his head. He had been expecting no better. "Are you seriously suggesting we leave Harry with Snape from time to time? Take him over to play with Uncle Sevvy?" Sirius mocked.

"No. Sirius, keep your friends close but your enemies closer," he quoted at him for as mad as it was, Remus could not help but get the feeling there was an odd kind of logic to the professors plan. A method to the madness.

"I take it he does want to see Harry then?" he said to the professor.

"I think it would put his mind at rest somewhat."

"Funny he did into need his mind to be put at rest when Harry was being locked in a cupboard when he was with his aunt and his uncle is it not?" Sirius barked.

He could not stand the audacity of the man. This was purely personal and he was not going to let Harry be used by Snape as a weapon. He deserved ten times better than that.

But then he knew he did have to put this thing with Snape to bed. Albus and Remus were right, for they could not go on as they had been. If things escalated... if he didn't control his temper... Lily and James death had taught him that mistakes and moments, split seconds, could leave devastation in their wake. Harry cried out in pain before his eyes as he tried to consider what would happen to the two of them if they were ever torn apart. If Harry had to go back from where he had saved him from... He couldn't let it happen and he was not going to let his pride get in the way. Harry knew kindness now... he wouldn't survive another five years of torment...

He had to be the bigger man here no matter how much he did not want to be.

Both Remus and Albus stayed quiet. As much as they both wanted to help, the decision at the end of the day was going to be up to Sirius alone. And yet Sirius was reminded this was not the way he had wanted it to be between himself and Remus when they had got Harry back. They were meant to be bringing him up together after all. It had to be a partnership.

"What do you think?" he asked and the icy atmosphere which had been between them begun to thaw.

"I think we should let him see Harry – it does not have to be for long but – " he struggled to phrase his thoughts. It made sense when it was in his head but when he said it out loud – it lost all reasoning. "It would put him in his place and it would show him we are not the kids he thinks we are." And if the feelings he had had for Lily had been half as strong as he said they were... "We should do it, Sirius."

"Well then – decision made." Sirius shrugged and Remus could not help but feel he had given into him as a kind of peace offering. But did it matter why he had?

For once, pig headed, stubborn Sirius Black had capitulated.

And Remus was proud of him.

"I think you have done the right thing," said Dumbledore with an approving nod.

"Well, I am glad one of us does," Sirius muttered.

Remus knew he was never going to be happy with what he had done and even as he sat there in the room with them, he was considering going back on what he had said.

Later that evening as the two of them sat in the kitchen together, once the professor had gone, Sirius sighed.

"I don't want to mess about with Harry's head." He told him. "And if he does a single thing to upset him, I am telling you Remus, there is going to be _hell _to pay." He growled protectively.

"On that I agree with you. But let's not jump the gun; they have not even met yet. And it is most likely only going to be the once. You just are going to have to keep your cool when we are there – unless I take Harry on my own?"

"If I do not go and show my face then it is going to defeat the point of Harry going in the first place," he mused, though skipping the visit did seem attractive to him.

Another good thing to come out of all this, thought Remus, was it was going to get used to Harry to different people - or go some way to help getting him there any way. He did not think he could imagine a person less like Sirius than Severus.

Sirius had said himself they both had to try and put a stop to Harry being so clingy to the pair of them.

The two of them would love to think that he was going to remain as sweet and as innocent as he was at that moment and yet they both knew he was not. There was going to come a day when he had to stare death in the face and they both knew it – the only thing they could do was hope when it came they were going to be there to hold his back.

But if they weren't, then he was going to have to have the courage to fight on his own and they were not going to be helping him if they continued to mollycoddled him forever.

"For what it is worth I do think you did the right thing when you said yes today," Remus reiterated with a comforting smile.

And just like that, it seemed something clicked back into place between them.

"Look Moony, what I did – it was dumb, but you know what I am like, always jumping off in the deep end. I know I can't use Harry as an excuse but I just want to keep him safe, you know, it is just – "

"Is this your_ lame_ attempt at an apology?"

Sirius nodded. "Pretty much."

"Accepted."

The two men looked at one another knowingly. If life was meant to be easy for either of them then they would never have met one another or James and Lily for that matter, and Harry would be some one else's problem. But neither of them would ever choose to live a different life even if they could deep down. It was the challenges and the tests that ensured you knew you were alive wasn't it?

\/\/\/

Even after he had been to the professor to tell him he would be happier if he could see the boy, Severus questioned the wisdom of what hr had done.

Albus must have know his main motivation for doing so had been to get up Blacks nose. He was not going to let what he had done to him lie.

And yet when he had said he wanted spend time with Harry the professor had said yes right away, that he would talk to Black and Lupin to see what they thought. He had a pretty good idea what Black would say – he could only hope someone would cover Harry's ears up so he did not hear his profanities...

But Dumbledore had not even questioned why he had wanted to do it and yet he _had_ to know it was for his selfish reasons. Why hadn't he asked '_why'_?

And now there was guilt. Guilt for Harry and Lily. He did not want to pull them into his grudge match with Sirius but he knew he had the moment he had said to the professor he wanted to meet the boy. Of course, it was more for the mother than the son that he felt guilty. Lily would be furious to think of him using Harry in such a way. And yet...

He had her eyes...

And very soon he was going to see them as Lupin had said he never would...

And he felt... joy? And try as he may, he could not tell himself he was not looking forward to meeting the child at last. Because he was... Lily's baby...

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**_Author Note:_ One week? Two updates? A Christmas miracle I hear you say? Surely not? But yes, I am on holiday from uni now and this chapter practically wrote itself. I hope you enjoyed it! I am going to do my upmost to get another new chapter out before New Year as well. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas whatever you do and whoever your with! Lots of festival love to you all :)**


	12. Meetings and Motivations

**Chapter 11**

The morning that they were going to be seeing Severus was just two days after Dumbledore had come to see Sirius and Remus on the Friday. Albus had said to them if they wished to put it off for a while then they were welcome to but, under the circumstances, Sirius had decided it was best to just get it over with.

The nights leading up to the visit were filled with one question for him and that was _why_?

After all this time, why was it Severus had such a fascination with the boy? He did not think he was ever going to understand it.

Maybe he did not have to. But what he did have to do was keep his temper under control when they were there.

He knew it was not going to be easy. He did not know how but Severus had a knack for bringing the worst out in him, just as Harry could bring out the best with a simple smile.

On the Thursday night, the two of them sat Harry down to tell him they were going to go out for the day tomorrow to see a 'friend'. A slight exaggeration, but there they were. Sirius could hardly tell him they were going to see someone he hated could he?

"We are going to go over in the morning for coffee so you can meet him. The chances are we are going to go and see professor Dumbledore at some point as well and maybe we can go on a walk about the grounds so you can see where you are going to go to school when you get big."

"I am big already aren't I?" said Harry childishly.

"Of course," Sirius said indulgently. "But I do not think you are quite ready for Hogwarts yet."

"So was Mr Snape a friend of daddy's?" Harry asked, so accustom to everyone he had met from the wizarding world being more a friend of his father's rather than his mothers.

"No, when she was alive he was a friend of your mums," Sirius said to him as they sat about the table.

"So is he going to be able to tell me stories about her?" he said excited at the prospect.

He had got rather used to the fact that he had stories about his family on tap from the two marauders who looked at one another as they tried to figure out what to say to that one.

Children's questions were a mind field.

"Well, I don't think he is really the 'stories' sort of person but perhaps if he does not then, I can give you some stories about mummy when we get home ok?"

He nodded but it was the clear the attraction of Snape for him was now the fact he was going to find out more about Lily in his mind. Sirius could not help wondering in that moment if he had short changed Lily in favour of telling Harry all the stories he knew about James.

That might be a balance he had to redress.

\/\/\/

Snape had got up early after a restless night. He was going to meeting Harry at the front gates at eleven and then from what the professor had said to him they were all going to be going back to his apartments for a while.

The night before when they had arranged when Black and Lupin were going to come over with Harry, Albus had made sure that he tried to put a few ground rules down for him. He knew if he was going to see Harry again, then he had to be kind for him. He had been told to 'play nice' practically.

And the one thing Albus had made perfectly clear was that he and Black had to be on their very best behaviour as did Lupin.

The way he had spoken to him had been as if he had been a first year once more and he had no doubt in his mind, that when he had gone to the flat, he had given the same speech to Black.

He was still debating with himself if he had done the right thing. He knew he had various motivations for doing what he had done – and some of them he knew did leave a lot to be desired and if she was here, then he had no doubt in his mind, that he would get a right dressing down from Lily.

But he did not think they were all that bad. He wanted to save the child from growing up to be a precious little prince who thought the world was his to own and he did not think that was such a bad thing. Of that, he did not think Lily would disapprove for he knew she would want her son to be a kind and modest child as she had been when she was young. He knew he had been neither of those things and she had loved him too but –

There was no putting in to words the way he felt about the upcoming meeting except to say that he was indeed nervous over it.

He did not relish the thought of having Black in his apartments either, but when he had been the one who had asked to see Harry he knew he could not then say no to Sirius being there with them. He was under no illusions and he knew Black would not leave the boy.

Not with him, anyway.

On an attempt to get something productive done with the time that he had to wait for them to get there he got on with his marking.

He had just gone into his fourth year of being a fully qualified professor and he did not think there was anything new any essay could shock him with now. He scrawled over them, critical to the point of being pernickety, correcting factual errors as well as poor grammar and spelling.

He did not know what it was with first years and spellings. All students had to go through some school before they got to Hogwarts, or at least, that was what he had been told, whether it be at home or a formal institution; yet looking at the essays, he did not think a lot of people would know that.

As eleven crept round he found he was looking at the clock more and more. He was eager to meet the boy he realised.

When he had asked Dumbledore what to expect of the lad, for he had not wanted to go into the meeting blind, he had said to him that he looked a lot like his father save for the eyes.

He did not know what he was going to think when he looked into them for the first time in years. If they were the spit of his mothers then he knew it was going to hurt – but all the same, he had to meet him. He had to know what he was like or he did not think he was ever going to have any peace. When he had been with his aunt and his uncle he had not had to worry about the boy and he had liked that feeling. He had not had to remember he existed, and he would not have had to until he had got to Hogwarts.

He started wondering down to the gates early to see that the three of them had nevertheless got there before he had and for the first time ever, (for he had not see the lad when he had been with his parents so much as once) he had the chance to drink the lad in.

The first thing he noted was not what he had expected to think first when he saw him and that was how thin the boy was. Severus, who knew exceptionally little about children, knew he should still probably be a little bigger than he was. He had thought that his first observation about the lad was going to be his eyes or his infamous scar. But it had been neither.

And then to his shock he just felt an overwhelming sense of pity for Harry. Because it was not Lily or James he saw in him; it was – it was himself.

And it felt as if he had been punch in the face. How could he have been so wrong? Only once he had seen something he had not expected to, did he see what he had been told he would. A boy who looked extraordinarily like his father with his mothers eyes. And behind him was of course his guard dogs.

As soon as he saw the man come close to his Harry, Sirius got the feeling he had done the wrong thing when he had brought him there. That the real right thing to do would have been to stick to his guns and not let him anywhere near him. But that wasn't an option. Not anymore. He had brought him there and they were just going to have to deal with the consequences no matter what they were.

As was his habit whenever he had to meet new people, Harry turned to make sure his god father and uncle were near him.

His first impression of Snape was that he was not like anyone he had ever met before. He seemed scary in a way that uncle Vernon could never hope to be.

It was in the way that he walked he thought to himself, or maybe it was the way he dressed in the big black cloak or his eyes. They weren't warm as Sirius' and Remus' were. Or they weren't when they first set eyes on one another.

But there was something captivating about them.

Sirius had thought that Harry was going to try and run and hide from him behind him. But he did not. He held his ground.

Opening the Hogwarts gates, Severus let the three of them in. And then he wondered what on earth they were meant to say to one another.

"Hello Severus," Remus begun, knowing that the other two were likely to start off with insults if it was left to them, or would have been had it not been for the presence of the little man.

"Black, Lupin." Said Severus acknowledging them before he bent down. He felt as if Lily's eyes were on him, and not only because he could see them in her son, but because he felt as if she was standing right by him ready to make sure he was in serious pain if he hurt her baby.

He had said he had wanted to meet him when he had been a fury. But now he was here there was another emotion in him. One he had not felt in a long time and one he could not name for fear of what it was called.

"Harry, it is very –_ nice_ – to met you at last," he said to him as if the word was slightly sour in his mouth. It was not the word he had been looking for by a long shot. He didn't usually have any trouble finding them. But then this was not a normal day.

He could see his mother so clearly in Harry as his face broke out in to the smallest of smiles.

"It is very nice to me you as well, Mr. Snape," he said to him politely, the solemn child not knowing how fast or unexpectedly he was winning the hard professor over.

"Come in," said Snape as he stepped back into the gates to let the others come in.

Sirius took Harry's hand not because he thought the lad needed his support but at that moment he needed Harry's. He remembered the last time he had walked up the path he had had James and Lily at his side and he had not thought he would ever have to do it without his best buddy. When they had been on there way he had been so lost in thoughts over his godson, he had not given a lot of thought to how it was going to affect him.

"Do you really live here?" said Harry as the castle came into view.

He did not think he had ever seen anything more wonderful than the castle in that moment.

Even he, who had not been to a lot of places, knew that there were not a lot of finer sights in the world than that, for how could there be? And this was where his mummy and his daddy had gone to school together. It was where the two of them had fell in love...

He had had a picture in his head of what it was going to look like, for Hogwarts had been the setting of all of the very best stories he had been told by his uncles. But he had never thought it was going to be as beautiful as it was. It was simply exquisite...

"I do," Severus said to him with a nod, secretly delighted that the child was so soon in raptures over the place. It gave them a place to start which he felt they otherwise might have been sadly lacking.

If Harry ever got the chance to live there as his uncles had promised he was as going to when he got big, he knew he was going to be grateful every day of his life.

He did not understand people such as his uncle Vernon. When magic could do so much good, why would you not want to be a part of it? Why would you deny it when it was this wonderful?

"Relish this moment, kid," Remus said. "You never get your first view of Hogwarts again!"

But he knew he had not needed to be told. The way that he was looking at the castle told him that.

"I think you must be a very man to live here, Mr. Snape," said Harry to him quietly and Severus did not know why but that comment burnt him. He knew it was going to be engrained on his mind till the day he died. It had been a long time since he had thought of himself as lucky. He did not think he had ever. But whatever had happened to him, he had ever been locked in a cupboard.

Yet he did not doubt that if he asked Harry at that moment if he was lucky, then he would have said yes. It was in the way he stood. It was not thing like the way his father or his mother had, closed in but with an air of – something – but it was as if he had the secret to happiness.

And the only two people in the world who could have given him that and that was Lupin and Black. And not even he was bitter enough to see the lad did not deserve some happiness.

Suddenly he saw he might have been wrong. The way he might have been behaving was wrong.

"Yes," he admitted the boy, trying to keep the surprise out of his voice. "I think I might be," he had his life which made him luckier than the lad's mother had been in her life. He would live to see Harry grow tall.

"Would you like to come up to the castle and see more of it?"

"Yes please!"

In fact, so eager was he to see more of the castle that he surprised the adults by running ahead a little, glad to be out of the cramped flat for a while, affirming Sirius' belief he had to get the boy out to the country where he knew they were going to be able to find a little more peace.

But it did leave the three men on their own – a situation none of them had wanted to find themselves in for the conversation was going to be strained to say the least. None of them wanted to turn to insults that day.

"Thank you both for letting him come here. I do appreciate it," he said to them and they knew the words had to taste like poison in his mouth.

It did not take Remus long to work out that now they were both done being the idiot, both Severus and Sirius were trying to be the bigger and the better man. But then as long as they were trying to do that, they were not going to terrify Harry.

"It is – ok." Conceded Sirius and it was just as painful for him as it was for Severus for the two of them to be civil to one another.

The three of them returned to their silence but kept an eye on Harry and what he was doing. The way he had run ahead and was looking at everything with such scrutiny reminded Sirius of an over excited puppy, but even more so of just a child who had never known the pain he had been through.

The past few months had gone him the world of good.

When Harry got tired he stopped running and waited for the three adults to catch up with him and he hoped none of them minded he had gone so far ahead as he knew he had been brought there so that he night met his mummy's friend.

The man fascinated him.

Harry thought he looked a lot more like a wizard than Sirius and Remus did and he had not needed to be told he was one, unlike with his godfather and uncle. Even if he had not been told about the magical world before he had met him, he would have guessed there was something a little more about him than let on.

He did not know why – maybe it was the fact he was wearing black – but he looked sad.

And he looked as if he was on his own. Which was silly because you could not know so much about one man just by looking at them could you? But he seemed like that to Harry's perceptive eye.

"If you live at a school Mr. Snape, are you teacher?" It was logical link to make.

Had it been any other child on any other day then Severus knew he could think of one thousands sarcastic replies which would give him a grim sort of satisfaction for having been asked what he viewed as a rather stupid question.

If he lived at a school at his age then, of course, he was a teacher. But he had asked sweetly and he did not want to scare him off when he had only just got the chance to know him.

"Yes, I am Harry. I am the Potions Master at here and when you come to school, I suspect I am going to be teaching you."

"Can you show me today some potions? I bet it's really cool!" he said to him.

"Perhaps no potions today, but I could take you in the laboratory if you wish."

He nodded eagerly and once more Severus had to admit it not himself the boy was nothing like he had thought he was going to be. He had got to him in time before Black had made him into a little James and if he could stay in his life, then Harry was going to be saved from that particular fate.

After having run into the grounds of the castle so quickly, Harry slowed right down and wanted to look at every thing on the way to the castle and Severus found that while the others were quite used to it, he only found it a colossal waste of time. He was sure he could see Black smirking at him as he had to wait for Harry but he had said he was not going to let him get to him and he was going to stand by that. He refused to take the bait.

He knew when he had been a first year, he had felt the need to stop and look at everything, not that the castle could not still surprise him to that day because he knew it could and it still did.

By the time that they had actually got back to the apartments, half an hour of the time he was going to get to spend with Harry was gone. It had been nice to see there were parts of him which were still a child; what he knew of what the boy had been through had been horrific. He wondered what the lad would be like just then had _he_ been the one to go and get him. But he was never going to know.

As they went into the dungeons he knew Harry was trying to be brave but at the same time was a little spooked by it as well. Not only could there be monsters down there in a six year old mind, but it_ really _haunted. He was only glad they had not had the misfortune to come across Peeves on their way down.

As they went in to the apartments, which Severus had been living in practically all year round since he had become a professor, they saw someone had arrived before them.

"Professor Dumbledore!" said Harry with a smile now knowing the man on sight after so many meetings. Both Sirius and Severus sighed, for they had thought he was not going to intrude on them so soon. "Hello!"

"And hello to you too young man. I thought I might come and see what you made of Hogwarts!"

"It is so,_ so_ **cool**!"

His childish response had all of the adults smiling, with or without their permission.

"I thought perhaps we might have a cup of tea together," he said as he conjured a tea pot out of the air, making Harry's eyes light up with joy. He did not think he was ever going to get tired of seeing people do magic.

"Well actually, I was going to take Harry and show him about the potions laboratory." Severus explained.

"Well, then I will have tea with Remus and Sirius while we wait for you." Said Dumbledore.

Sirius looked to Harry and he was all ready to jump up and say his godson was going nowhere with Snape on his own but – Harry didn't seem to be nervous. He had a smile on his face as he looked at Severus, clearly eager for him to lead the way to the lab. For the first time since he had got him back, he realised the lad was willing to go somewhere without him and if he then got up and said he was not allowed, then he was only going to make him more nervous and stilt the confidence that was beginning to grow.

He had no choice but to remain calm and do as the blasted headmaster said.

"I'll see you in a minute ok mate?" he said to his godson who nodded.

"Ok."

It was only when he had left his company Harry realised how bold he had been to go with Severus on his own. He, whose hands had to be prized to let go of Sirius at times, had walked away from him knowingly. And yet he still did not feel the fear he might of; Mr Snape was obviously a severe man; all one needed to do was looking at him to work that out. But there was something... Sirius ... about him. Harry couldn't explain it.

On the way up to the school, he had worked out Severus had never been friends with his godfather the way Remus and his father were. But then... he had been his mother's friend, hadn't he?

As they entered the lab, Harry's eyes were as wide as saucers.

He wanted to focus on what he was being shown – but thoughts of his mother invaded him.

Severus noticed how quiet the lad had gone around the time he had been showing him the bezoar. He wanted to think it was just like a child of Potter to want to see something and then not look at it.

But he couldn't.

Pulling out two of the stools, Severus motioned for the lad to get up on one and when he did he seemed very small with his legs dangling down. Even when compared to the first years...

"Are you ok? Do you want me to fetch your godfather?" he had to concede the mutt would be able to comfort him more than he could.

"No – Mr Snape, can I ask you a question?"

Severus nodded. "By all means Harry. But please, before you do – my name is Severus. Mr Snape makes me feel far too old."

Had he just – made a _joke_, or at least tried – to **comfort** – _Potter's_ son? There was something odd going on here...

"Did you know my mum?"

With the tactlessness only a child could truly master, he had gone straight for the killer question.

"I did – she was a very nice, kind women Harry. You should hold your head higher because she gave birth to you." He said as he swallowed the lump in his throat, suddenly heartbroken that the lad had never got to met her – to know her properly. He had had that chance and he had thrown it away.

A voice in his head said had Harry got that opportunity, he would not have.

He was gentle boy, not arrogant. Not at all. He had been furious with the lad for the mistakes he had made. But he could not be anymore.

"Can you tell me stories about her?"

Has he been prepared then perhaps he might have he realised. But suddenly everything he had ever known about his mother scattered to the furthest, most protected corners of his brain.

"Maybe another day young man, but for now I think I really had better return you to your godfather or he is going to be worrying about where you are!" he said, and Harry jumped off of the stool. He had started to head back the way they had come in.

"Harry?"

"Yes Mr Sn – Severus."

"It doesn't matter." Said The Potions Master as his words failed him.

\/\/\/\/

"I cannot believe – the two of them on their own, I should never have allowed it. Albus, if he –"

"My dear boy calm down. I am sure he is fine, the two of them are going to be quite alright."

But Sirius knew what that man could be when he was at his most vile. He was sure he had seen it in a way the headmaster had not.

"Moony, can you hear that?" he asked the werewolf as he looked up at the celling.

"Hear what?"

"James – cursing me to hell and back for letting Snape in a hundred miles of Harry. I'm sure he just said I was sacked as godfather."

Sniggering, Remus shook his head. "And there's Lily telling Prongs not to be such an idiot and that there fine."

Sirius rolled his eyes. In spite of the fact he was a marauder; the werewolf took Lily's side it seemed in everything. When they had been at school she had said it had something to do with common sense, which apparently, he lacked entirely, despite his intelligence. Of course, she had not said it with such gentle language, but then he had just given her a rather inappropriate present for Christmas. The less said about that the better...

But it was at that moment that a still smiling Harry and Severus came round the corner. Had he upset Harry, Sirius could not see it. Glad to be back with his guardians as he always was, Harry launched himself in to Remus' arms as he was closer and settled into him. His smile said he was fine as well.

"What did you think of the laboratory Harry?" asked his godfather.

Harry had not seen a lot of it – or at least when he had been shown it had not concentrated. Feeling as if what had passed between himself and the potions master had been a private moment however, he shrugged. "It was so cool!"

Severus threw him an approving, knowing wink that sank Sirius' heart. Not only had Severus not terrorised his godson (which he was thankful for, despite what some people might think, though it denied him a reason for cursing Severus), he had actually formed a bond with the trusting child (which he wasn't so thankful for). He had not seen Harry take to a person so quickly since – since the two of them had found one another.

Whether he liked it or not, he had opened the door to let Severus into Harry's life and the boy was now going to keep it ajar to let the Potions Master in whenever he wanted too. That meant like it or not, Severus was part of his life as well.

The two men looked at one another over the head of the oblivious child. The battle lines remained drawn. But the manor in which the war was fought rapidly had to change if they were both going to keep Harry's affection, something neither was willing to surrender to the other.

As Sirius digested all that had gone on that day, it was Remus who put Harry to bed that night. Sirius had done it on a few nights on the trot anyhow, so it was most likely his turn. Rather than read from a book to him, both marauders usually made up stories or told him something about his mother and father or the wizarding world, and it was a story about a stag, big black dog and a very friendly werewolf that he was given that night. He had noted whereas all the – what was the word – oh yeah, 'muggle' – stories said that werewolf's were bad; Sirius and Remus said they were good.

He knew who he believed.

Curled up there happily in his arms, Harry tried to remember what life had been when Remus and Sirius had not been there. He didn't really want to though. He knew he had been very sad and he had not had a lot of fun. He had missed them when he had not known them.

"And with that, they all lived happily ever after," said Remus to wrapped up in his own story to notice the little man had not been listening for a while. Nevertheless, he smiled down on Harry, quite satisfied that had been one of the better stories he had told him as of yet. Having a child certainly made his imagination stretch.

"Right. Time to go to sleep," he said as he gently moved off of the bed.

"Moony?"

"Yes buddy?"

"I like Severus. He was nice to me," he said. When the three of them had got back he had been so happy that his guardians had not wanted to make him seeing Severus into anything bigger than they had already.

"Good. I'm glad."

"I don't like him as much as I like you and Padfoot though."

"Good, because me and Sirius don't like _anyone_ more than we like you!" he said as he bent down and gave him a kiss before ensuring the night light was on and leaving the room, satisfied with how the day had gone.

Going into the living room he could see Sirius was brooding over the day events. "I am glad he didn't hurt him Remus. But did Harry have to like him, seriously?"

"I must admit Snape is the last person I had thought would be suitable buddy for Harry and I can't say I am delighted at the fact that he is going to be part of our life, for he is whether we like it or not now. But... I think the cloud is blocking the silver lining here mate."

"Which is?"

"I have not seen Harry so calm and relaxed with someone so quickly since he came to us. If he is that comfortable with Snape, maybe we have found our baby sitter for full moon?"

\/\/\/

Severus now understood. He realised why Dumbledore had let Harry come without a fight or any questioning. Walking down to the lake that night he sat down quietly and he relaxed, letting years of bitter tears roll on to his cheeks. Rarely had he cried for Lily but he thought it was more Harry cried for then.

For what he had let him go through. He had not even tried to get to him.

Albus was a sly git – he had known this was going to happen to him. He felt his grief had been violated and he only had himself to blame. But now that grief had been contaminated, he no longer wanted it.

And so it was with lighter shoulders he sat there and remembered his love.

Remembered the good and not the bad.

Eventually, he would go to bed and he would sleep so well that night that he would almost rise too late to get to class on time the next morning. But for then, he sat there, unaware that Albus Dumbledore was watching from afar, congratulating himself on a good days work. Whoever would have thought it would take just one solemn little boy to melt the hard heart of the potions professor? And that he would be able to do it so quickly?

Why, himself, of course.

_Please review!_

_I hope you all had a very happy Christmas! _


	13. Forward Thinking

**Chapter 12**

After the lot of them had spent the day at Hogwarts, there was a definite change in Harry and it was for the better. Without knowing they were doing it, Remus and Sirius had found a way to bring the boy right out of himself. Even though they were not going to fool themselves they did not yet have a long way to go, they had set off on the right foot at last it seemed.

When Harry had gone on with Severus on his own that had been the real turning point in the day and they all knew it. Sirius saw a little Gryffindor emerging out of Harry's shell.

Had they gone up there a few weeks before they would not have managed to get Harry to pull his face out of his godfather's neck. But he was a much happier boy and at six, they both knew there arrangement was not enough.

They had to set up the sort of life _he_ should be living. They had to get him stimulated and about people his own age. Love was the basis of what the boy needed. Now he had it, they could build on it.

But first the living arrangements had to be dealt with – a flat in the middle of the city was the last place in the world that James and Lily would have wanted them to settle with their boy, as Sirius seemed to recall on a daily basis and so it was that before they had even consulted Harry on where he would like to live the two adults had decided it was to be somewhere big and in the country where they were going to be able to run about.

And Sirius wanted to each him how to horseback ride. It was a rather muggle like past time his mother had said but he had learnt when he had been at the Potters and he had loved it though he was not brilliant. James had spent many happy hours laughing at him as he had tried to hold on for his life. Lily had ridden gracefully though.

And so it was that one day after breakfast, Sirius lead Harry into the living room where Remus was already waiting for them with some drawing paper and some pencils.

"Right Harry –" he said as he gave him a wink and put the paper and the pencils in front of him. "Draw me your dream house."

Harry liked to think in the time he had been with them he had got quite good at drawing. It was one of his favourite things to do at night when they were getting on with adult stuff, not that they left him on his own for long.

A thoughtful look came over his face. Since he had been there, he had not given a lot of thought to anywhere else. It had been the only place he had wanted to be.

For the first time, he wondered if he could not be there where he would like to be...

The first thing he drew on the paper though was three people – _them _– for he did not think any where could be a 'dream' place for him if they were not there with him.

Over the top of him, Remus and Sirius shared a smile. His love for them, or at least the strength of it had come as a bit of a shock to the pair of them but a wonderful surprise. It had been a long time since any of them had been so adored.

Then he got on with the house. Naturally, the drawing was quite childish with a door in the middle and windows surrounding it. One either side with one above the door as well.

"Where would it be mate?"

He shrugged.

He had not given a lot of thought to the location – but then he had not thought of it at all before they had brought it up.

"Somewhere where we can run about and play," he was beginning to understand there was a good reason that they were asking all this. "We're going to move aren't we?"

He did not think he had ever got the sense that Sirius had seen this as home. He knew it had been Remus' before they had come together, so if anyone was sad that they were going to leave it, it was going to be him but he did not look as if he was cut up over it.

"We are indeed," Remus nodded with a smile on his face.

"What do you say to a big house in the country?" asked Sirius and Harry's eyes lit up.

"That would be so, so good!" he said as his eyes turned to the picture and Sirius put his arm about him.

"I do not know if we are going to be able to get a house as good as the one in your picture but we are going to try ok?"

He nodded eagerly. He had not minded living at the flat though. It had been a home to him in some ways – more than number four had ever done. As far back as he was able to remember, it had been the first place he thought he had ever felt really safe. It might be tatty but when he had walked into it he had felt warm. And he had always ... well, he had never wanted to be anywhere else.

Never wished himself away from it. It went without saying that when he had been with his aunt and his uncle that was the only thing he had ever done.

But then he knew it was not so much the building he loved but the people who lived inside of it. It was the first place he had been with Sirius, so it was always going to be special to him. But the truth was he was going to follow him anywhere and he did much not care where he lived.

His eyes feel on his picture though and he did notice there was something missing. If this was his dream... he did not think that the other two would mind.

It was with a cheeky smile that he once more picked up the pen and on the lawn out the front of the house that he had drawn he drew a black dog.

"You want a pet at your dream house?" said Sirius highly amused.

On account of the fact that there were already two animals so to speak in their family, he had not given a lot of thought to getting Harry a pet as of yet. There had been so much else going on. But as he thought of it he could not say it was a terrible idea – in fact he thought it was a rather good one. After all, Harry was an only child and a pet might act as an ideal replacement sibling.

He knew if Lily and James had lived then he would not have been an only child.

His eyes met Remus who looked as thoughtful as he did on the topic and he knew he was not exactly against the idea wither.

Knowing, Harry was looking for an answer, he sighed. At last he was asking for the things he wanted and what would give him pleasure and for that Sirius was very thankful.

"We'll see ok?" he said to the boy who was suddenly wearing a very cheeky, James like smile.

And so over the next few weeks the three of them invested a lot of time in talking over what they all; wanted from their new home. Even though it was not the most exciting topic for Harry unless they were talking about his room, they were none the less determined to make sure they included him in the discussion.

For the first time in his life, they were going to give him a permanent, stable home. They wanted it to be the setting of many happy child hoof memories for him.

And a place he really wanted to go back to.

What all of them got out of the conversations they had thought was whatever they ended up with, it was perhaps predictably going to be none to conventional. After all, they were not a bog standard two point four kid family were they?

No what, Sirius seem to think was going to be best for them was a bachelor pad fit for a family.

Nothing – _god forbid _– too girly.

The more they spoke about it the more he got excited over it. Asides from Prongs mum and dad's place, he knew it was going to be the first proper home he had ever had. He was going to be living in it with the two people who meant the most to him in all the world.

After he had put Harry to bed that night, Sirius sat down to write his cousin a letter. As much as he hoped they were going to be the ones doing the main house hunting, he was not going to lie and neither was Remus – they could do with a little help.

When they had been looking for places before it had been for bachelor pad that they used for sleeping in and not much else (mainly because that was all they were good for). But this new house had to be a proper home.

And so he enclosed a copy of Harry's drawing and sent it off to Andy with Remus' weather worn Owl, Romulus. James' had been the 'genius' behind that name – very imaginative... apparently...

\./.\./

About half way through the lunar circle, Sirius left Remus and Harry to their own devices for the afternoon, making a mess as they tried to bake a cake. He knew he was going to be expected to taste some when he got back and so he intended to take a slow walk to up to Hogwarts and put off the inevitable a little longer.

He had tried some of Remus' cake before.

As he wondered up the path again, he had to ask himself what the hell he was thinking. When Remus had first said to him that they might use Snape as a baby sitter at full moon he had been ready to send him off to St Mungo's to have his head checked out.

But to his great annoyance, the more he had thought on it the more it made sense. Harry had asked him more than once when he was going to get to see Severus again so it was obvious he had become very attached to him in the hour or so which they had spent together which to him seemed ridiculous but the fact was it had not taken Harry even less time to latch on to him. It had happened once, and it had happened again. Harry, for all he had been through, was a trusting little boy. And as annoying as it was, he now needed Snape on side.

He was doing it for Remus more than anyone though. When he had come back from full moon, he had felt so guilty and he knew he wanted to be out there with him the coming month – he had to try and protect him from Moony.

So was that selfish? And was this putting Harry first as he had sworn he was going to do on countless occasions.

He didn't know. But he had to do it for Remus and the werewolf had not been too proud to contradict him. James would agree with what he was doing.

And so here he was.

He quietly made his way along the route to Snape's apartments, remembering the way he had gone when he had been to see him with Harry and once he had knocked, he respectfully waited for the Potions Master to answer rather than just barge in as he might have previously done.

He had wrote ahead to say he was going to come up as well and so it was not with surprise that Severus met him at the door.

Without Harry by his side, Sirius knew the two of them were far more likely to end up rowing. But they had to try for Harry even if he was not there. Now Severus had met Harry and the lad had an emotional attachment to him, that always had to be in the back of his godfathers mind when he was dealing with the man he had only ever thought of as a snake before.

"Black," said Severus as he let him in to the flat trying to push his own thoughts about the man asides. He would have to forget this was the man who had caused him countless humiliations.

But then it was easier than it had been. He was a much happier man of late – much more willing to forgive.

He only hoped Black was feeling charitable as well.

"Snape," Sirius nodded as he went in to his rooms feeling intensely awkward.

He had not ever thought he was going to find himself in a situation such as this one. He had gone to his old enemy to ask him to help with his godson and again there was that voice in his head that was saying this was madness. But at the same time it worked.

"Why don't I go and get us a coffee?" Severus offered still trying to let it sink on that Sirius had come to him on a social call and he did not want to throttle him – much.

On his returned, it looked as if Black had finally worked out how to say what he had come too. "Ok, I am just going to put my cards on the table because I have no idea how else to do this, Snape. I am never going to like you. I don't like you and you don't like me, it's the law. But on the other hand, I want to thank you for making an effort with Harry. He kinda thinks you're the best thing since sliced bread."

Despite that the word were coming from the month of Sirius Black, Severus felt himself smiling. Ever since he had had to say goodbye to that little boy he had been wondering when he was going to get to see him again.

"I'm glad and I agree. We are not going to be friends, Black – but I want to be part of Harry's life and if I am going to do that then we are going to recoil the two."

"Shockingly – and I can't quite believe I'm saying this – you're right," Sirius said as he got the feeling he was being forced feeds humble pie for the years of torment. "So that is why I am here. For his sake, for Harry's. I want a truce."

"As do I." Said Severus and he offered him his hand. He didn't know why - but it seemed the right thing to do and the two of them were trying desperately to figure out what that was when they had no idea.

Sirius took it.

"A truce it is then?" he said with a grim smile.

"Yes it is."

Sirius had thought he was going to need a lot more time to talk him round and as his hand dropped he was smiling. He was glad they had come to such a swift agreement.

Yet, even as the two of them sat there together the under tones and the small print of there truce was forming in their heads. The most important one was that the truce was only ever going to last as long as they were both good to Harry.

If one or the other was to hurt that boy then the other would make sure he could not be hurt again by the offending party. And it went without saying, Sirius still held legal guardianship... that, he would never surrender.

But for now, the uneasy truce stood and as they drunk there coffee, the two straight talking men got lost in their own thoughts and memories of their own past as they tried to figure out how and when they had ended up there together. Life had not been kind to their generation.

While some of their scars could be healed some losses – the losses like that of James and Lily - were still green, and would never fade.

Were they so different, Snape and himself? Sirius mused and he knew he was never going to get an answer for that due to the fact he didn't really want one. Didn't need one.

"Severus can I ask a favour of you?" Sirius said as he got ready to leave.

"In the spirit of the day, yes."

Sirius took a deep breath... the two of them getting on as they were... well, it was freaking him out a little bit.

"In a couple of weeks, it is going to be full moon. When he is left on his own Remus can do some pretty horrific damage to himself and when I can go out with him it seems silly to let him do it. But I have Harry to consider. Last month, I had to sit home because he was still not too sure of himself, but I think – the way he goes on about you... If I can talk him into it, would you have Harry for the night please?"

"Of course," Severus nodded. To be asked to have the boy for a whole night was a lot more than he had been expecting or hoped for. But it was what he wanted.

"Thank you Severus. Thanks very much."

Unknowingly mirroring Severus actions from just a few nights before, Sirius went to the lake before he went home to remember James. When he was with Harry his grief was combated by his love for his boy. But when he was on his own it felt as if he was half a person. Soul mates didn't have to be romantically linked together. His soul mate had been the only true brother he had ever had. And as he stood there, he sobbed.

He could hear James in his ear mocking his intense grief, but he could not stop crying. He had gone to Snape for help. He should be the one James asked for help with Harry. _This was not the way it was meant to be..._

Grief was so unpredictable he thought. Just as it seemed he was pulling himself together, he fell apart all over again. There was no Hogwarts for him. Not any more...

He was glad to get back to the flat.

"Hey guys," he said as he stood in the door way of the kitchen to find a laughing Remus trying to clean up a flour covered Harry. There were no cakes in sight; only a very happy child.

"Hey Sirius, guess who started a food fi-" Remus stopped when he noted Sirius' red rimmed eyes. "You ok?" he asked as he looked at him.

Sirius nodded. "I'm fine."

Harry wondered over to him. "You're sad Padfoot."

"Only a little. I was thinking about your daddy when I was at the school. I saw Severus and he can't wait to see you again," he said and Remus gave him a congratulatory wink on having got through the meeting.

But it seemed his little man had only heard the first part.

"Don't be sad Sirius." Harry told him, remembering all he had said to him when Sirius had been doing the comforting. He put his arms up to him. "We're together, right? And daddy loved us both and he'd want me you to be laughing when we remembered him, right?"

"Indeed, he would, my wise Harry," he said as he picked the boy up, regardless of the flour that would go on to his own robes. The lad hugged him tightly. "My Pup," he whispered. "And my Moony," he said as his oldest friend came in on the hug.

Not very guy like, but very necessary. The three of them stood there for a while holding one another, finally allowing themselves to believe; life had given them a good hand. They were going to be damned if they didn't play on now.

Another indication of their luck perhaps changing as well was that when Sirius asked Harry if he would like to go a d spend a night with Severus, he nodded vigorously, and didn't even change his mind when Sirius made it clear to him that he would have to go on his own. After all, he and Moony were going to be sorting out the boring bits of the 'house stuff'...

\/\/\/

A week of house visiting followed. They were either too small, or too girly, or the garden wasn't big enough...

It was exhausting work.

As mid week once again approached, the two marauders and Harry chilled out together in the living room.

"Do I have to have a bath tonight?" asked Harry.

At last, an extraordinary six year old lad was being an ordinary six year old lad. An amused grin passed between Sirius and Remus.

"Yeah – Harry, you don't wanna stink do you?" Sirius asked. "You didn't have one last night."

He shrugged. "I can't be worst than Moony after the baked beans."

"Harry!" Remus laughed, thoroughly enjoying the bolder boy.

Sirius on the other hand, nodded. "Don't deny it, Remus – the kid has a point. But just because I live with one stink time bomb, don't mean I am going to live with another, pup. You're getting in the bath tonight."

"Padfoot, please!"

"Erm... no, you're_ still _having a bath."

Harry had been about to respond to try and get out of it another way when there fire went.

"Oh my god, Sirius let me up, let me up!" a rather excitable voice said on the other side of the grate.

He did so.

"Was that Andy?" asked Remus as Harry scrambled to his side, having jumped at the voice. Pulling up the lad into his secure arms, he none the less kept smiling as a rather dishevelled Andy came into the room, covered in soot.

The middle Black girl would have usually complained about being so dirty, but at that moment, she was not sure she cared so much...

"I have found it and the three of you are going to love me forever!"

"Ok," her smiling cousin said at her a she tried to figure out whether he should call Ted before or after he carted her off to St Mungo's.

"What have you found darling?" he said as he tried to keep a straight face.

"The house! I've got it – well, I haven't brought it, but – you're going to love it. Especially you Harry, it's beautiful!" she looked as if she was so excited that she was going to burst.

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_Happy New Year!_


	14. The Second Full Moon

**Chapter 13**

As soon as he saw it, Sirius knew that Andy had got it spot on. He had thought he would be the one to find it but it seemed Andy with her women's intuition had got it right. She was bang on the money.

Before his eyes, situated on the Devonshire moors, apparently near the southern coast, was well – home. The large Queen Anne style house would have been large enough for a family of eight or nine, so there would be ample room for the three of them.

"How on earth?" he said as he turned to the excited Black sister.

"Does it matter how I found it, it is what you lot were looking for isn't it?" she said with a smile.

"Yes." Remus said for him.

"Can we go inside and have a look?" asked Harry as he looked up at them. Andy nodded and the four of them went inside.

And when they did go inside they found out that it was going to suit them just as well in as they had thought it was going to from the outside. Built at the end of the nineteenth century, the old house had been built by a wizard of his day who had looked forward to a large family of many children running about the place.

Indeed, if it was anything, then it was too big for the marauders and their pup but it had been a long time since Sirius had fallen in love as soon as he had seen something.

In fact, the last time he had felt such an instant connection to something was when he had laid eyes on his Harry for the very first time. And he knew it was too extreme to compare what he felt for a house to the way that his Harry made him feel. But it was that sort of feeling which made him sure that it was the house for them as they wondered in to the spacious living room.

As his own eyes met those of his werewolf friend he knew Remus felt just the same. As did his godson.

"So what do you think, Harry? Do you think you would like to grow up in a house like this?" said Sirius as he put a hand on his shoulder but he knew he did not have to ask for it was written all over his face; nothing would make him much happier to live in a big old house with his family.

As they walked down the lawn again, Sirius smiled. If they did decide to fulfil Harry's wish and get him a dog, which he had to admit to himself whether Moony liked it or not was more than likely, then they were going to have ample space to run about.

When they had put the over excited six year old to bed (who was delighted to get out of his bath because it was so late) the two marauders had a very short conversation in which the two of them agreed it was the right thing for them to do to move in.

And so things were on the go for them moving into a proper home.

()()()()()

As the date for full moon got nearer Harry got more and more excited about the thought of going to see Sev for the night. When you were a child the things you wanted seem to come even slower.

Sirius didn't know if he was delighted or not that Severus and Harry got on. Now that the two of them had at least tried to make his peace... And it was much better than had Snape tried to get on with him than terrorize the boy.

But then he did not think he was ever going to bring himself to like or to trust the man. There had been so much water under that particular bridge for the two of them that it was simply impossibility.

And yet it was for that reason he could not work out how could be considering leaving Harry with him – how could he leave the most precious thing in his world with someone he did not trust? It would be shear madness...

And yet he knew there was no going back on his world for Harry would be heartbroken if he was not allowed to go and see him. And he had shaken his h,and. He had to be true to what he had said.

And in spite of it, the closer he got to the full moon the more he could not wait to go and have some fun as he had done when he had been a teenager. He had had the best nights of his life during the full moons – and he had no doubt he was going to have another brilliant one that night.

No, in a very weird way he knew he was doing the right thing when he asked his heart. His head was the bit that wasn't sure.

Before he did have time to back out or change his plans, he went through to his godson who was choosing what toys he was going to be taking with him that night.

"You going to be ready to go in a bit buddy?" he said as he went in to the room with a smile on his face.

Harry nodded.

"I think so – do you think Severus would mind if I took more than one toy with me?"

"I do not think he would see that as a problem pup – I certainly don't."

"I know but – Padfoot, I think he is a very different sort of man to you!"

Sirius had always known the boy was sharp but the comment intrigued him more than he was able to say.

"How so?"

Harry shrugged. He did not think he would ever be able to put it into words for as much as he they were very different, at the same time they were kind of the same. It was the biggest contradiction the young lad had so far yet come up against.

"I don't think it is something I can say because if I did then I think – I think as silly as it is I would say you are very alike – I dunno, Padfoot. You're different but the same." The boy looked pensive.

"You know if you do not want to go then I can stay with you. I don't want you to feel as if I am pushing you into this, Harry," but the lad shook his head.

He knew even as he said it that he did want to go – he had been so eager to for the whole week.

"Padfoot – I think that if I did not want to go then I would tell you. I am not scared of you."

It was the best thing he had ever heard.

"I am very glad to hear it young man," said Sirius as he stroked down his hair. "Now, we are, in that case due to go soon. Are you ready?"

Harry nodded as he picked up two of his teddies to go with him. He was certainly a different boy to the one who had confronted Sirius a month before had.

()()()()()

Severus Snape had never taken care of a child for a whole night. He was not and he did not think he was ever going to be the paternal sort. He cared very much for Harry he found and he knew he was always going to now. Not only for Lily's sake but for his own and Harry. He did not want to be on his own forever.

Going into his spare room, one last time he checked everything was ready for the boy when he got there. He did not think he had ever had guests before. It was not as if he had any close friends.

He had been on his own for far too long.

For the evening, he had picked up a few games he was going to be able to play with Harry – all of which of course had some educational merit – as well as some drinking chocolate which he knew his mother had been so fond of when she had been young. He knew he should not make comparisons between the two of them but he could not help himself.

He was glad to see Black was apparently just as eager to keep the peace between the two of them as he was and he got Harry to him if anything earlier than later then he should have.

Part of him he guessed had expected Black to pull out at the last minute. But it seemed he was a man of his word these days.

"Severus!" said Harry as he came into view, delighted to see him.

It had been a long time coming for the lad to go and see him.

In spite of his excitement though, Harry still seemed to be able to read Severus well and whereas whenever he had been parted From Sirius he was always only too glad to throw himself in his arms on the reunion, he did not think that Severus would be too happy to hug him.

"How are you young man?"

"I am good," he said as Sirius put Harry's bag down.

"And you are ready for a good night?" again Harry nodded as the two men looked at one another.

"I am going to be back to get him at ten in the morning, is that ok?" asked Sirius as Severus tried to smile reassuringly at Harry.

"Absolutely – I don't have a class until twelve so ten is going to be fine."

"Good – right mate, well have a good time and I will see you in the morning," said Sirius as he turned to his pup.

"Ok Padfoot," said Harry as he cuddled into him to say goodbye.

"Sleep well pup. Love you lots, ok?" said Sirius totally unashamed of the way he felt for him even in front of the man who he had once thought to be his enemy.

It was not as if they were going to be friends but they were not as far apart as they had been in the past. "Love you too."

Sirius let him go and turned to the professor.

"Severus – I shall see you in the morning," he said and once he and the man who was going to have his god son for the night had shared a nod, he left the two of them to it and once more, just as he had done when he had met Harry for the first time, Severus felt nervous.

Much like Sirius and Remus when they had picked Harry up, he felt he knew very little about the boy or how to take care of him.

But he still knew he was going to be able to do a lot better job than the little lads aunt and uncle he done when they had had him.

"Right young man, can I get you a drink?"

z/z/z

So that they were going to be able to be close to Harry even when he was in Snape's care, Sirius and Remus had returned to the old haunt of the Shrieking Shack. When they had been planning there night they had both commented on how irresponsible it would be to behave as they had done when they had been students.

But part of the attraction of Sirius coming out with Remus that night was that they were both do determined to try and recreate the past.

Of course, they both knew they were never going to be able to do it completely, for James was gone from them and Peter was as well even if they were gone for very different reasons. No, neither of them had told themselves that night was going to be as it had been for it was not going to be.

But they were going to have a laugh between them; and they had been fine every night when they had been out there as kids, save one. Severus was too preoccupied with Harry that night to worry over what they were doing.

No, the pair of them were going to be fine.

Remus had forgotten how it felt when he had not had to dread the full moon. He had looked forward to it when he had had his friends around him and once more he was again now he knew Sirius was going to be at his side once more.

As the Animagus got back from dropping off their young charge, the two of them shared a grin and then a brotherly embrace, saying all they needed to without opening there mouth. It was going to be a good night.

\/\/\/

Even though he had thought he was going to spend the night trying to play some game of educational worth with Harry, Severus could not be helped but be drawn into a game of exploding snap when Harry asked to play.

He did not think he could ever enjoy himself so much just to see another being enjoying himself but he did. The way Harry's smile made him feel was very much the way his mothers had. He did not think many other people would know this but it seemed to Severus that Harry had his mothers smile even more than he had her eyes.

He knew he had not been one of the people Harry had been with from the start since he had come into the wizarding world but even he could tell how much happier he was from when he had been with his aunt and his uncle. It was in the way that he never had to be prompted into saying please or thank you. Even though he had never had a lot to do with kids Harry's age, he knew they were not as grateful as he was.

Nor should he have to be though.

"Sev?" asked Harry from where he was sitting, formalities between them dropped. Though he knew he was never going to be an uncle to him in the way that Remus was, for he did not think he was ever going to be able to cut a very cosy figure, neither did he want to be Mr. Snape to Harry.

He did not want the barriers up between them.

"Yes Harry?"

"What are you thinking?"

For such a small lad, he was very perceptive and he was very intuitive. He did not know anyone of anyone of an adult age who seemed to think as deeply as Harry did never mind a child.

Severus had always held the belief that thoughts as well as memories should be kept very private. On the whole, he did not approve of being over emotional.

But he could not say there was not something very persuasive about the lad's eyes.

"I was just thinking about your mother and how very like her you are," He said with a sad smile. He had wondered when the two of them were going to broach the subject of Lily as there had always been that inevitability that they were going to have to at some point…

"Do you think I am? Sirius thinks I am a lot like daddy!"

Severus could not say he was surprised by that. No doubt he had been told what a saint James had been and what a brilliant Quidditch players.

No, he had no doubt Black had a selective memory. But it was not the time to talk about James...

"No, it is all your mother I can see in you – her kindness especially."

He knew there was going to come a day when he was a teenager that he was not going to be so kind to him. That he was going to wonder why he had not been the one to go and get him. Why he had let him root with his aunt and uncle...

And it was going to be that he was going to blame those questions on the fact Harry was James son.

But when he was young and innocent it seemed to him he was utterly his mother's child. He could only hope he was going to be able to stay that way.

"Do you think if she was here then she would like me?"

He had to pity the boy. How was it when he had such dismal parents they had been allowed to see him grow up when the best of mothers had been deprived of her own son.

"I know she would have loved very much."

The words had come out of his mouth before he had had a chance to censor what came out of it.

His mind turned back to the games before he had a chance to get too emotional but he still felt Harry's penetrating eyes on him.

\/\/\/

Sirius and Remus both knew what the other was feeling and it was a very odd emotion. Since the two of them had had Harry they had only ever left them with the other. So to leave him with an outsider who was not even Dumbledore...

And _Snape_ none the less...

As dusk drew on they both knew they were going to have to go soon. After all, they had to be there well before Remus changed and the days were now very much shorter than they had been when they had first got Harry back.

Remus wondered if this was the way Lily had felt when she had left him for the first time or how it was how James had felt. Then it was Sirius who they had left him with so somehow he doubted it.

But it was not as if he had a chance to go and change his mind. He had to get ready for the full moon.

That did not mean he was not intensely aware of the fact Sirius could go back to the castle and spend the night with the others instead of him.

The way he felt he did not think he would blame him in the least. It was a hard thing to be a parent. He did not think either of them had had a big enough appreciation of that fact when they had taken harry on.

"Ready?" Sirius said as he broke him out of his thoughts. The Animagus had been trying to get himself ready to leave the lad all day and now that he had, as much as he would love to go back to him, as Remus thought he would, he knew his duty lay elsewhere that night.

He had to be with his best friend.

If anything did go wrong for the boy then he did not think he was ever going to be able to forgive himself or Remus but he could not allow himself to think like that. It was going to be fine.

Things had to go right and he had to be able to leave the boy alone for more than ten minutes at a time. It was going to be no life for Harry to be smothered by them one hundred percent of the time and he knew it.

Seeing that there was a resolve about Sirius now, Remus nodded. They both had to be strong that night and so the two of them left the flat to go up to Hogwarts, to relive the glory days of their past.

\/\/\/\/

After a mug of hot chocolate, Harry settled into bed quite quickly given that it was a new, strange bed that he was not used to. Though there was a longing in him to go home he did not think it was as bad as he had thought it would be.

When he thought back on that night, he smiled. Though he knew he still did not know the Potions Master wonderfully, he felt as if he did at least know him a little and as an extension of that he did now know his mother a little better which was the most wonderful feeling in the world.

He had been the extension to her he had been looking for.

He was the link to his mother his aunt should have been.

With that thought in his head he began to let eyes close and listened to the sounds which surrounded Hogwarts. It truly was in his opinion the most magical place in the world. The last sound he heard before he rolled over into a peaceful slumber was the far off howl of a wolf in the forest.

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**Author Note:** Hey all, sorry for being gone so long – I did mean to update in January but it was quite a month for me in the real world for all the wrong reasons. Sufficient to say I got writers block (which explains the lack of – _something _– in this chapter). I think had circumstances been different, I might have got a bit more out of the Lily connection for Harry with Snape. I might go back to it in the summer. Thankfully, life has got back on track in the most remarkable and miraculous way ever (I did not expect to be updating even this soon!).

I am not going to set any dates for updating but hopefully it will now be a little more regular once more now I am home and settled again.

Just a quick note on the house Andy found: if you go to google and type in Sagamore Hill, you'll see the house I based the guys new home on. Historically, rather than being in the south east of England, it is across the pond in Oyster Bay and was the home of Theodore Roosevelt and his quite frankly **awesome **family. I would *love* to go there to visit one day (it's on my 'bucket list') - even from the outside it looks so warm, if you know what I mean? A real 'home' rather than a house, which becomes even more so when you read up on TR. Sigh... one day people... one day...


	15. Lady Luck

**Chapter 14**

As he had known he would not as soon as Sirius had said he was going to come out with him that night, Remus had not found that full moon to be as bad as the months before had. In fact he had had quite a lot of fun and when he transformed back he was not half as battered and bruised as he had come accustom to be since he had lost his friends. All in all, he had had quite a good night, it had to be said.

The two of them had returned to the Shrieking Shack for the first time in years but it felt as if they had only been there yesterday. In a very weird way, the shack felt as if it had been a home to the marauders – or at the very least a club house for the four of them. But returning to it did not feel as if they were going into the past as they both now knew it was still very much a part of their present.

When they had been young it had been where they had plotted their best pranks and jokes – they had created a lot of good memories there and some days Remus thought that they still did out rank the bad.

Rolling over, he saw Sirius had been awake for what looked quite some time but he was also looking relaxed, chilled out and he had a grin on his face. He had thought when he had woken up he would be chopping at the bit to get back to Harry straight away but he had the look of a man who was in no hurry what's so ever.

A small smile played on his mouth as he looked up at the ceiling, arms up being his head.

"You ok, Padfoot?"

"I'm alright, sleepy – how are you?"

He was very good and it had been a long time since he had woken up so well. Of course, he was going to be tired and it was going to take him a few good days to get over it as it always did, but he did not feel as if he wanted to curl up and sleep for ever as he had done only too often.

The smile on his face told Sirius that.

"No need to say anything then Moony."

The two of them lay there for a while in silence. As they always had on the day after the full moon, the two of them woke with the sun rise and they both knew ten o'clock was still a very long way off - there was no point in getting up yet. If they went back to the flat to sort themselves out for the day yet, then they were going to be ready to go and get Harry far too early.

And so the two of them tried to relax a little after casting a warming spell to cast off the freeze and stayed there in what was soon the heated room¸ just relaxing, smiling and dozing in and out of peaceful slumbers.

()()()

When Harry woke, up it took him a minute to figure out why he was not in his room at home. He had forgotten all about the previous night until he had cast his eyes round the room. Yet once he figured out his surroundings, he was not stressed or worried.

Sev was going to be just outside. The two of them had had a good evening together, an experience he hoped the two of them were going to repeat.

But before he knew it, he knew he was going to be back with his godfather and they were going to be hopefully, sorting out things for the new house. He had told Severus all about it the night before. He did not think he had been so excited about something ever before. It was really going to be a new start for them.

They were going to move in to a new home and it was going to be just that. A _home_ to him.

And he finally, firmly believed he was never going to have to leave it as long as he had his godfather there to look after him.

Sirius would not let anything bad happen to him, of that he was sure.

He heard Sev moving about outside and he smiled. He really hoped he was going to be allowed to come and stay again sometime soon.

Severus was a man who was as interesting as the place he lived and the more he was there, the more he found he wanted to be there. It seemed there was so much to learn at Hogwarts to him. He had heard there was a library upstairs and though Sirius was not a big reader, Sev and Remus were.

And he knew when he did get to an age where he could come and live at Hogwarts, he wanted nothing more in the world than to be able to do them all proud.

Getting out his bed, he walked into the living room and he rubbed the remaining sleep out of his eyes. He had slept very soundly.

"How are you today young man?" said Severus finding he had liked someone else being in his apartments in the morning. Solitude was, indeed, a cruel companion.

"I am good," said Harry as he took a spot on the sofa still in his pyjamas.

"Do you want to have some breakfast?" Harry nodded and he and Severus were quick to agree on a big breakfast.

Severus was usually a muesli man. He did not normally like to take a long lazy breakfast. He just found it a bit of a waste of time if he was honest.

But that day the thought of bacons and eggs appealed to him very much as it did to his young guest it seemed. He supposed he wanted it because he had a guest and someone to sit and devour it with.

"Do you have eggs and bacon a lot when you are at home with Sirius and Remus?" Severus asked, interesting to know about Harry's home life with his parents friends.

"Not so often – a lot of the time we just have cereal." He shrugged. "We only have it at the weekend."

He thought back to when he had been at his aunt and uncles he remembered how they had had it every day. He thought for that reason alone he would not like too. He did not ever want to be anything like the two of them, ever. But as a treat at the weekend – he did not see the harm in that.

The way he had lived when he was young now seemed unnatural to him. But he was never going to have to return to that.

"Why don't we have another game of snap while it cooks?"

Thank god for magic, thought Severus as he sat down once he had put there breakfast on.

()()()

A shower when they did get back to the flat was all it took for Sirius to get over full moon much to the envy of Remus who knew he was going to have to know take it way for a couple of days. The Animagus didn't know how easy he had it.

Sirius came out of his room in a pair of faded jeans and light green t-shirt, humming a little.

The happier Harry got the more so his godfather also became. He was truly beginning to enjoy life once more. It felt good to be free.

Remus remained on edge slightly though, he did not want Sirius to lull him in to a false sense of security. Even if he could put on a good front he was still fairly fresh for Azkaban as he had been reminded more than once.

But that was not the case that day. He seemed normal and happy.

"I am going to go in and put our offer on the house and then I am going to go get the little man," said Sirius as he put on his jacket as well as a scarf to keep out the cold.

The two of them did not want to lose the house and now they were going to go for it, it seemed to Sirius there was no point in delaying. They did not want to risk losing it – especially as Harry loved it as well.

Remus nodded and he felt an excitement. As much as the flat had been home to him, it did not hold a lot of sentimental value for him. In fact it was full off bad memories. He had moved in to it when his life had been torn apart. ..

No, he was not going to be sorry to go.

"Offering the asking price?"

Sirius nodded. Andy had said that maybe they should go a little under but again, he did not really want to risk it. There was no point – he did not want to mess about. This was their family life they were planning – messing about was not an option.

After everything they had been through he did not think either of them were going to know object to a quiet life in the country.

It would be a good place to prepare Harry for Hogwarts outside of London.

Sirius did not take long in the estate agents. He went in to do what he had to and then he got out of there eager to get back to his godson. He gave the women behind the counter a few smileds – she was not so uneasy on the eye herself, and he did not think it could hurt when it came to speeding up the process.

While he had found he had missed him, neither had it been a bad thing to have some time out from worrying constantly about Harry.

But then they had always said a little time apart was going to do the lad good. It had too. But he still had not thought initially it was going to do him as much good as it had. He remembered when James and Lily had had Harry he had said to them he would take Harry when he needed a break. Now that he was Harry's main carer, he was sometimes going to need a break as well.

He had not thought of it like that before but now that he did it made a lot of sense.

Still, as he went into the castle he had a smile on his face. Freshly washed and clean shaven, he was more than ready to take over his parental duties once more.

He got to the flat about ten as he had said he was going to. He was not going to have Harry worry over where he was and he was not going to wind up Severus.

As long as everything had gone fine at their end, then he was beginning to think this would be quite a good, regular little arrangement. It had taken a while to find someone Harry was happy being left with. As long as he continued to be happy with Severus, then he could keep getting Remus through the full moon. As a result of him being there with him, he knew he was not half as roughed up as he had been when Moony was left on his own. Remus had but a few disguisable cuts and grazes this month. Sirius hoped Harry was not going to be half as worried over him as he was when he had got back before.

Severus opened the door to him.

"Sirius," he nodded as he let the man come into the flat. It was a huge improvement on the days when Severus had had to force himself to spit out Black.

"Severus," he nodded in return. The two of them knew this was no social call. It was not as if they were ever going to sit down together and have a coffee.

Nope it was just a civil hand over.

As soon as he had heard Sirius' voice, Harry came out in to the hall from where he had been sitting with colouring pencils and paper. He had a big smile on his face, but he did not think he felt relief. He could not sense any tension coming from the boy. No, if he knew him at all then he knew he had had a good time.

"Hey buddy," he said as Harry flung himself in his arms. Even if he had had a good time he had missed Sirius.

"Hey," he said as he put his arms around him and cuddled him.

As Severus looked at the two he could not help but think the two of them looked a lot more like a father and son than godfather and godson. It was only too clear Harry was extremely happy when he was with him. He did not think he could begrudge Harry that; not now.

It was then he begun he was beginning to accept what he never thought he could. That Sirius Black was doing the right thing.

XXX

Sirius had been right again when he had thought his godson was not going to be freaked out by the appearance of Remus Lupin.

So well disguised and so small were the marks on his skin, they that when the two of them sheepishly told Harry that they had had a play fight (not a lie – just an embellishment of the truth) he brought it and went off to his room, but not before asking when they were going to be able to move in to the new house.

If only it was that simple!

"With any luck, soon," Sirius said to him as Remus gave the lad a wink.

The two of them looked at one another once he had gone and they had the same thought. It was not as if they were able to do anything else, but when the two of them had taken Harry to see the house they had made a mistake. Neither of them wanted to see his disappointment if they did not get it.

Especially when he liked it so much.

"How long did they say we were going to have to wait?"

"They are going to – 'call' - us on the muggle tellyone thing around one-ish." He said to him.

"Telephone, Padfoot."

"That's what I said," Sirius nodded.

Remus gave a small smile but he was as nervous as Sirius was. As much as they were using his money to buy the house, it was going to belong to both of them. It would belong to all of them.

_If _they got it – but all they could do for that morning was wait.

XXX

It was then, that morning, a quiet nerve filled flat but it was of course for all of the right reasons.

As long as it worked out?

Which it surely had to because of all the bad luck which the lot of them had already had.

Harry drew pictures of the new house that morning with the dog he wanted on the law already and, as much as he tried to get his mind off of it, Sirius found he could not. He could only think of long lazy winter evenings there with his friends and snowy Christmases there with Harry.

He could not help but get excited even though he was trying to stop Harry becoming so.

There was not a lot to do but sit so that was what he and Remus did along with drinking silly amounts of tea. It seemed to take an age but at last – the phone rang. Harry looked up at the two of them in anticipation. It could only mean one thing.

That it had been decided whether there offer had been accepted or not.

Sirius and Remus both sat still – "Shall I?" asked the werewolf and his friend nodded. He did not think he would be able to talk just then anyway – he felt strangely sick all of sudden.

He knew it was not going to be the end of the world if they were not to get it but it did feel as if it was important to him that they did.

Seeing Sirius' nerves, Harry went over to him and plonked himself on his godfather who wrapped his arms around him.

_Please... please... please... _

"Hello... yes... oh really?... yes we can come in later, of course we can. Thank you very much... yeah, thank again – good bye."

Remus turned very slowly and he had a look of almost disbelief on his face.

The tension was peaking at then at last he nodded.

"We got the house."

The silence and the tension was utterly broken by shouts of joy on part of three males in the room. It did seem at last, lady luck was beginning to smile on them.

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	16. Home

**Chapter 15**

On the day that they found out they were going to move into the house which they had all liked so much, it took the mauradering family a long time to come down from the high that they were on. It did not matter how much competition they had or had not had when it came to the house. The fact was it was theirs. There own little piece of the earth where they were going to be able to be happy and settled. Where they were all going to have bedrooms and beds and home comforts and be surrounded by all the things that by rights should have been there's in the years which had gone by.

As soon as he had heard that they were going to moving into the house which he had been able to see as there home so quickly, Harry wanted to move in.

"Can we sleep there tonight?"

"If only we could," said Remus to him as he shook his head. "Believe me I know it is annoying mate but we have got to do the paper work and everything first before we are able to move in. Hopefully we will be in before Christmas though!"

Sirius laid back on the opposite sofa and he rubbed his cheeks. He did not remember the last time they had hurt because he had been smiling so much, he really didn't – but it was the best feeling he had had in a long time.

He was able to give to his best friend and his godson the home the pair of the deserved. And when he looked out of his bedroom window at night, he was going to be able to look up at the stars. He was almost still feeling very cautious over it all though. He had got used to the fact when he was in jail that he was not ever going to be allowed to know any sort of happiness again. So to get it just like that did feel a little too good to be true.

That theory in the past two months had been blown out of the water entirely though. In spite of everything that had gone on he felt he was a very lucky man and he did not think that feeling was going to change any time soon.

As long as he had his family then he knew he was the _luckiest_ man in the world.

"Sirius, do you think we should let Andromeda know? She was the one who found it after all," Remus said as he bounced the hyperactive Harry up and down.

"Well, I wouldn't like to think about the hex she would through my way if she was not the first to know, let's put it like that." He said as he sat up. "Why don't I floo call her and if she is in then we can pop over there for a bit. If we don't get Harry out of this flat then I think he is going to spontaneously combust."

Sirius was ninety-nine point nine percent sure that Harry had no idea what 'spontaneously combust' meant, but that didn't stop him laughing at it.

"You don't mind if we go over to Andy's, do you kid?" he said to the giggling lad who gave a relaxed shrugged.

Half an hour later and the three of them found themselves outside of Shell Cottage. Sirius had an idea that she knew something was up, for it was not as if the three of them had yet made a habit of just going over for a cup of tea (though that was something which both of the Black cousins hoped was going to change). Especially as they were now going to be living so close to one another.

"Hey guys," said Andy as she opened up the door to them. "How are you doing today?" she said as she raised her eye brows in questions.

Sirius could see how much she was longing to know what was going on. If there pure blood mania was the fatal flaw in her sisters, then Andy's was her need for gossip.

Her eyes only asked more questions as the two of them embraced.

"We are very good aren't we Harry?" he said to the lad who stood close by him. Though he was by no means the frightened little thing he had been when he had come to see her before, he was still not entirely sure of her, that was for sure.

Sirius wondered if it was because she was a woman. Though Andy was very much part of Harry's life now, he did not think he was able to call her his mother figure yet. The fact was he had just not had a lot of contact with women since he had left Petunia's care and he could not help but wonder if she had coloured his view of women for the worse.

It seemed to be a theory that made sense, at least in his head. It would explain why he had been able to take to Severus so quickly.

But he was going to get him used to Andy, of that he was sure. It felt as if the two of them were the last of the Black cousins – and he did not think it was a selfish desire, to have what was left of his family in his life.

"Yeah." The lad nodded as he gave her a tentative smile.

She nodded. Though she wished the lad was a bit more relaxed about her, she knew it was going to take a little while - he was only going to be comfortable with her in his own time, which he would be. They just had to wait.

"So to what do I owe the honour of a visit, cousin dear?" She asked as they walked into the kitchen. Of course, she had an idea of what it could be – but she did not want to get her own hopes up.

Turning to look at Sirius she saw he had a look on his face, the like she had not seen since they had been children. It felt so natural to see him up to no good once more.

"Your own genius!" he replied with a bark of a laugh.

She bit her lip as his news seemed to be just what she had hoped it was going to be. When she had been to the flat she had noted how dingy it was. It was no place to raise a child, let alone one who had been through all that Harry had. No, she knew she was not his mother but she was _a _mother and she liked to think after the years she had spent raising her daughter she did know a little about children. What the boy needed the most was, of course, to be with people who loved him. But having plenty of space to run about would help as well.

He needed good old country air in his lungs.

"Don't tease me." She pleaded.

"In not too long, we are going to be living at the house on top of the hill." She knew she could not be as happy as they were about the news but nevertheless she felt as if she was.

This could – this was going to be – a real fresh start for the lot of them. They were going to have everything they had been denied but deserved nevertheless.

Life had been cruel to all of them – but it seemed as if that time in their life had passed at long last.

She did not know quite what to say at first. She had not been happy like she was then in a long time. That Sirius and she were going to be living so close to one another.

He had really come back – and he was really innocent.

"I am so happy!" she said as she jumped into his arms once more. It felt as if she had been waiting a very long time for such good news.

Laughing, he spun her about. "You know you are not going to be able to get rid of us now, don't you?"

But she shook her head. She knew he had been joking about but she did not think she would want to get rude of them for anything.

"I can't tell you how pleased I am – oh, Sirius."

At last, after they had all spent so much time in the wilderness...

"I bet you're pleased, aren't you?" she addressed Harry once she and Sirius had broken apart.

The lad gave a nod – she did not think she had ever seen such a smile on his face. It came right from his heart.

Her mind run ahead of her when she thought of all the things they were going to have to do when they completed. Asides from the actual move, they were going to have to decorate and get the place just as they wanted it and she hoped they were going to allow her to be a part of that process. If she had no one else, then she knew her daughter and her husband were more than enough for her but on the other hand, Sirius was her family and if Harry and Remus were his family then they were hers as well.

"All that decorating – all that shopping you guys are going to have to do!" she said and she looked as if she was going to heaven.

The look that they gave her in return told her that none of them were looking forward to any of the shopping they were going to have to do – and besides it was all for another day!

"Why don't I open a bottle of fire whisky?"

"I think that is a good idea," Sirius nodded. It had been too long coming this celebration.

When Harry fell exhausted but happily into his bed that night, he could not help but think about the enormous changed which had taken place in his life of late. Had he been told that he would be living like as he was when he had been his aunt and uncle, then he knew he would not have believed it. He did trust Sirius and Remus – with all his heart he did. But part of him still felt like he was dreaming.

It was his opinion that he was the luckiest boy in the world.

And he was not the only one. Sirius, laying on the couch, felt for the first time in a long while that he was a contented man. It was sort the feeling you got after eating your favourite meal, without stuffing yourself senseless; pleasant and warm. Ever since the ministry had realised they had made a mistake when they had locked him up his life had gone from strength to strength.

While he was yet to get a job, he did have a home once more now and he was a father in all but name. He had accepted there were always going to be people he loved missing from his world and he did not think he was ever going to be able to forgive that. But he was going to do was let it stop them from living.

The last thing he had on his mind was forgotten that night – the only thing Sirius did know when he woke up was he had had a night of pleasant dreams.

The next few weeks were filled with anticipation for all three of them. In spite of the fact that they had magic to aid them, they found that packing up the flat did take a bit of time.

And then there was the preparation of the new house which never failed to excite them. Due to the size of the house, there was no question of any of them having to have a 'small' room. All of them were going to be able to have a decent sized one. Sirius knew the thing Remus was most looking forward to was having a lot more storage for the minty books he had collected over the years, while he was just looking forward to being able to watch the sun rise and set – and spoiling Harry rotten of course.

And he knew by the time he was done they were going to need a lot of room for all the toys he was going to buy his godson. From now up till Hogwarts, he was going to make sure Harry was a child. A proper little kid. He wanted tantrums and everything...

Though that thought might come back to bit him on the bum...

What did surprise him though was that when he and his cousin got to talking about it, he did care about things such as colour charts and what table and chairs they were going to have. All the girly things Lily would have sorted...

As much as he was under no doubt that it was going to be Remus and Harry who really made it his home, the things in it were going to make a difference.

In the end, the week of the move was to be just before the next full moon. Remus had hoped that it was going to be earlier than that. He had wanted to be firing on all cylinders.

The last thing he was going to do was delay it though.

He and the others had been waiting too long to go to a real home. He was more than capable of moving and it he was feeling a little run down - it was nothing that the look on Harry's face could not dispel when he came out to breakfast with him for the last time at the flat.

"It is the big day!" said the werewolf as the lad came running out into his arms. Remus did not know why but at that moment he was reminded of the sad little lad he and Sirius had saved from Surrey.

He had then dreamt of the day when he was going to be able to see Harry smiled as he did then. He had hoped it was going to come but he had not dared it would come so soon.

They had spent just three moons together...

And by the time that the next had come and gone they would have got used to the new house as well as celebrated their very first Christmas together.

Life was very good to him.

"We are going home!" Harry echoed the thoughts in his head.

"Indeed we are, my boy," said Remus and he cuddled him, having caught him in his arms. Remus recalled another day with Harry when he had been a tiny little baby, small enough to be held in just one arm. He had heard people say before that day that baby's had a smell to them – clean and soft and fresh and sweet...

He had thought it was rubbish until that day. And even though he was not even a toddler any more, Harry still had that fresh, green smell about him.

"Indeed we are."

Breakfast was a rushed affair that day. The last few things had to be packed before they left the flat and all of them were far too impatient to take their time.

"Right go and get dressed please, pup," said Sirius as he scooped the last bit of cereal out of the bowl.

Andy was going to be coming over to the flat before they left to help them and he wanted to give the impression to her that he was at least trying to be on top of things.

Harry nodded and run out the room.

"Can you imagine what our lives would have been had that bill not passed the ministry?" said Remus out of the blue to him.

As much as it was a happy day for them it was almost inevitably also one of deep reflection.

"I do not have to."

They had lived that life and he did not think any of them had enjoyed it.

"No," sighed Remus.

The two of them looked at one another both trying to work out what the other was thinking. They were on the cusp of something great...

But also terrifying.

Harry had been in their care for months but when they got to the new house, it was going to be for keeps (as it had always been)... but it was the symbolism of it all.

Of a home which the three of them had chosen together for the life they were trying to build.

00000

As midday came the last of the packing was at last done and the flat was bare. Andromeda had seen to that. Remus looked about the place which had never been a home to him but which had offered him security when he had needed it.

The living room was more spacious than he had thought it had been without the sofa and the book shelf in it. All that remained was the tiny little TV where Harry had watched cartoons. They would get a new one when they got to the new house.

There was a sudden tinge of sadness about leaving the past.

He knew he was never going to want it back, the TV nor the solitary life he had been living. But it was part of the tapestry of his life now. It would always be part of him.

He did not think he was sad that they were leaving the flat but they had had to arrive there. Some scars were never going to heal.

But this was not the day for sadness.

"You ready to go Moony?"

He turned to see Sirius who gave him a confident smile. A smile that said life was going to favour them from now on.

"I think I am – in fact, I know that I am." As Harry came into view, he nodded.

"Come on then, pup," said Sirius as he ruffled Harry's hair. "Let's take you home."

\/\/\/\/\/

Sirius loved the house even more than when he had seen it for the first time – for now it was his. Having apparated out of the flat for the last time they were greeted as they had known they were going to be - by big opens spaces and greenery. It was the perfect place to raise Harry and he knew James would think so too.

The two marauders and their ward practically run up to the house so eager were they to be inside of it.

As they raced up to it, Sirius could hear Andromeda laughing at their antics.

They were home indeed.

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	17. Moving In

**Chapter 16**

The first room that they begun to assemble was Harry's; Remus and Sirius wordlessly agreeing that it was paramount for him to get used to being at the house quickly.

Both of them wanted him to love it, and look back when he was older on it fondly. Providing everything went to plan, which oddly enough it seemed to be doing of late, this was going to be Harry's home long into his and perhaps past his childhood, up until he was twenty or even older.

As for Sirius, as young as he was, he felt as if he had found his forever home. After all he had been through, the peace of a true home was all he craved.

"Harry, will you stop bouncing off the walls?" he said teasingly as with his wand he drew up the bed design he and Remus had agreed on for Harry. Already paid for, it would come out of his wand the shop assistant had said in at place of his choosing. "Pup, you're acting like – well, a six year old!"

From behind him, he heard Andromeda laugh.

"Padfoot, I am a six year old."

"Well that's ok then!" he said as the bed materialised and came crashing down into the room.

"There we are!" Remus beamed as he ruffled Harry's hair.

"What do you think Harry?"

"I think is the best thing ever!" he said as he jumped up at Sirius and put his arms about him. In the time he had been under the care of his godfather, he had put on enough weight for Sirius to class the lad as heavy but when he had put his arms about him in such a warm hug, there was no way he was putting him down.

"I am glad you think so."

In spite of the fact he had had the second bedroom when they had been at the flat, Sirius knew when he looked back Harry was going to see this room as his first real room, a proper one of his own...

When they had spoken about what he wanted it to be like, Sirius had been pleasantly surprised by how out spoken he had been about what he wanted in it. He seemed to really understand what it meant to be part of a family now. And he knew it was not going to be taken away from him either.

He had felt _secure_ enough to speak out.

What Harry had wanted first and foremost was for it to be blue and large enough to play in. Gone were the days when he did not seemed to understand how he was meant to play – he loved to do nothing better now days, unless it was to go to Hogwarts.

The furniture he had chosen off the cuff, for Sirius and Remus knew better than to seriously try and get there hyperactive boy to sit down to talk about wardrobes, even though the ones he had pointed too were not ones which would look out of place at the school. In fact, Sirius had expressed some surprise to his friend over there charges choice, not knowingly that the part of Hogwarts which the furniture, which was quite imposing, would most _specifically_ not look out of place in the rooms of Severus Snape.

Asides from the furniture though the room was light and airy with big windows looking out on to the surrounding fields.

It was an idyllic view and nothing less than the boy deserved after all he had been through.

Sirius wondered if he was ever going to stop having moments such as these when he just felt supremely grateful for what he had in life.

He hoped not.…

He too was looking forward to once more to have a bedroom of his own. He had not had a real room to call his own - well, perhaps in as long as Harry. He had had one when he had been a boy but then he had been with his own parents and he did not think he had ever been home when he had been with them. He had always felt so ruddy uncomfortable when he had been with the Blacks.

When he had walked out he had gone to the Potters, he knew they would have only too gladly given him a bedroom but he and James had been so young and they had said they would rather bunk down together.

Then he had moved into a flat on his own when his best friend had married and it again had not been a home to him... He was not and he was never going to be a solitary creature. No, he did not think any place he lived on his own would ever be a home to him.

But now he had a child and his best friend that was never going to be an issue. And while he did not think he had exactly settled down he knew he was going to live here for the rest of his days...

In his heart, he knew it.

As the boxes came in, he left his godson and his best friend to unpack to give some direction to his cousin as to what was to go where.

"Are you ok?" she said as she begun unpacking the kitchen utensils she had levitated in to the kitchen from the living room.

Sirius got himself a glad of water.

"I think I am – it is just a bit of a big day is all," he said and she had to smile. She knew he had to be scared about everything that was going on but he was not going to admit it to her – he was after all a Gryffindor and they did not do fear.

Not outwardly any way.

"You know it was bad enough when me and Ted were having our own baby – I cannot think how bloody terrifying it is to bring up some one else's."

"When you put it like that," he said with a sigh and a smile.

Not wanting to reflect too much, he went back upstairs to see Harry had got distracted by his toys and the rest of the boxes he had to unpack had not yet been opened. As for Remus, he was in the hall way beginning to fill up just one of the book cases he had chosen.

"I think we are going to be very happy here my friend," there werewolf said to him with a delighted smile.

He did not own a lot of his own but he had collected many books over the years – due to the fact he had not had adequate space or need of them at the flat he had not had them out - but here they were all going on display.

"At least we are never going to have to take Harry to Diagon alley when his book lists come through," teased Sirius.

He ducked out of the way of one of the paper backs that suddenly flew his wait and once more popped his head round the door of Harry's room to find the lad had at last found an occupation more interesting than playing with his toys.

Signalling Remus over to him, the two of the watched as the delighted and excited little boy jumped up and down on his bed as all children love to do.

"I'm home!" he squealed to himself as he landed down giggling to himself_, _eliminating with those two words any chance that he even might have been told off for jumping on his nice new bed.

He turned to give the two of them the cheekiest of smiles, though it was a bit coy. He had meant it to be a private moment of his own celebration, but he did not think there was anything he wouldn't want to share with them.

It was the best day of his life.

Dinner that night turned out to be a pizza, brought in for the four of them by Ted who came up to see them and his wife as soon as he got home from work.

He had tried to get the day off to help with the move but he had been unable.

"I was too busy thinking about all the fun you guys were having to get anything useful done, of course," he said as they at round the roaring fire. Christmas seemed only too close now as they begun to count down the weeks.

The holiday season was another reason he had been unable to concentrate. It was his personal favourite holiday and he was naturally looking forward to the return of his daughter from school.

Christmas was simply a great time of year.

"Well, I hope you got something done – we have presents to pay for dearest!" Andy teased.

"Don't remind me!"

The warm relationship between the two of them did not slip under the radar of Sirius Black and he smiled at the two of them together. When she had first told him they were to be married he had not been too sure about Ted if he was honest to himself. It was not for any of the ridiculous reasons there family had been against the marriage but he had just not thought Ted had a spark about him.

Granted, when they had been at school he had not taken a lot of time to get to know him but then he had been so caught up in himself and his friends. Ted had been a hard one to read – he had kept his cards close to his chest.

Now, at last, as he took the chance to get to know him he found Ted to be a good sort of guy – not extraordinary in the way James had been but he had a very kind soul, he saw, and he clearly was willing to accommodate his wife's crazy family into their lives in a heartbeat.

And he had been so good with Harry.

But more than that he could see just how happy he had made Andy over the years and he had taken good care of her. It could not have been an easy job at times.

He had not seen it enough at the time but their marriage had always been a love match in every sense.

It was in the way Andy looked at him that told him all he had to know about the way she felt for her husband and if he was enough for her, then that was good enough for him.

"What do you want for Christmas Harry?" Andromeda asked.

She did not know did she had done the right thing for a moment. The fact that he was still slightly nervous about her told her maybe it was a little unfair to talk to him so directly. But if Sirius thought it was the case then he did not show it. Rather, he looked to the lad to give her an answer.

"What have you told me you want? And Remus."

Harry bite his lip for a moment before speaking out.

"A puppy."

Andromeda smile and Ted chuckled knowingly.

"For years that was all our girl wanted for Christmas!" he said as he supped on the beer he had been given.

"And did Santa bring her one?"

Ted grimaced.

Andromeda shifted uncomfortably as Sirius gave her a knowing wink. "Just because she did not get one does not mean you will not, pup. Now come on Harry, it is getting late and I know you just can't wait to go up and sleep in that nice new room of yours!"

Harry gave a nod – normally he might have asked for just a few more minutes. But the truth was he _did _want to go up to a bed that was in his own room in his own home. It would feel good to sleep there. And he guessed he was a little tired – it had been a long day.

But a very good day at the same time. One of the very best of his whole life!

"Will you take me up?" he asked Remus. The werewolf nodded.

It was after all his turn to tuck him in – and Sirius had his family there.

And as well as that - he felt as if he had spent much of the day with Sirius and had not seen Remus so much even though they had been in the same house all day. And he wondered if he was a little sad that they had moved. He did not know a lot about their lives before they had come to get him. But he knew the flat where they had been staying had been Remus' and he had been the one living there longest.

He had to be a little sad over it, didn't he?

"Of course I will," said the werewolf as he got up. Putting Harry to bed and watching him fall into peaceful dreams was one of Remus's favourite things to do.

"Good night my lovely lad," said Sirius to him quietly as the two of them embraced. Together. In their own home.

It was real now. They were a family.

"I love you Padfoot."

"As I love you."

It was the perfect conclusion to a wonderful day for Sirius. It was the culmination of everything he had wanted and hoped for since he had lost James.

To give his little godson a good warm, secure home. But for him to be able to say the way he felt when there were other people in the room – people he did not yet know as well as Sirius would like him too – well, even he understood that it was one of the greatest tributes Harry had given to his and Remus' parenting skills.

A half arm hug and a tentative kiss from Andromeda later and Harry was on his way to bed, carried up the stairs by Remus.

If the werewolf had his way, then when Harry looked back on his childhood – his real childhood, then that was the image he was going to have in his head.

Once he was tucked up in bed, Harry curled into Remus' side. Normally this would be the part of the day when he asked for his story – but perhaps they both understood that that was not what either of them wanted that day.

Just the chance to have rest and think, and gather themselves.

"I am always going to be with you, aren't I?" Harry asked.

"Always. This is how our life is going to be now."

XXX

Even though it was a cold night and it was only going to get colder, Sirius went outside on to the poach. Andy and Ted were talking together about something he was not sure he had the energy to care a great deal about.

As he looked down the hill, he felt a smile form on his face. As far as his eye could see, the land was his. He was master here and that was not going to change in a hurry. He had a place in the world where he was meant to be – and that was something no one could put a price tag on.

He could see the stars and when morning came he was going to be able to get up and watch the sun rise over his own little piece of the world.

And what more could he say to that? There was nothing else he could possibly want.

This was his time. He had been waiting for it to come for long enough. And he had been standing out there on his own for a while, when he heard the door open behind him...

Andy was standing there with a tea for him and a smile. She had one for herself as well and she must have told her husband to stay inside for a moment as he did not follow her out.

"You know there was a time when I did not think me and you were ever going to get to spend time like this together again. I thought you'd gone for good – just like everyone else."

He shook his head. "It is going to take more than prison to get rid of me."

"And I am glad of it. I do not know another person who could have coped with what you have been through and managed to come out of it and be such a wonderful father."

"I have had my moments – and I'm not his father,"

"Not biologically, and I know you would not want to deny James his place in his sons heart. But you and Remus are going to be – are already – his father's in the real things you do for him. You are his father in every way that counts."

He knew she meant no harm – and she had said nothing he did not know to be true already. But hearing it was hard for a reason he did not think he could explain to his heart.

He had to get away from this subject.

"So you know what we need now that we have a new place don't you?"

"What's that?"

"A house warming."

_Please review!_

_Author note:_ some of you got review Reponses for chapter 15 (again!) – sorry about that – just got a bit distracted!


	18. Christmas Party

**Chapter 17**

Remus was tentatively looking forward to the party. It was not as if it was going to be a rave. He was beginning to think Harry would cope with it.

Had he and Sirius not done so then they would not have even considered it – but he was not the same lad he had been when he had come to them. And it was time he spent a bit of time with kids of his own age really - high time.

If he did not then he would miss out on that key socialisation – and he did not want to think of the way Harry would get on at Hogwarts if he had only ever spent time with adults.

The 'party' was going to be a relatively small affair – only them and a few friends. Top of the guest list were of course the three Tonks'. They were purposely holding it after Nymphadora came back from school so she could come.

Sirius wanted to hear all about how his kid cousins first term had gone. In between all that had been going on, he had managed to send her a few owls and he was proud of himself for that. He wanted her to know he had time for her. Just as much as he had missed years with Harry, so he had missed years with her.

He had to make them up to her.

Along with Nymphdora and her parents, the Weasley's were going to be in attendance. Ever since he had got back, he had meant to met them and get in contact, but – well, life had got in the way a bit.

Christmas seemed the perfect time to make some new friends.

Last on the guest list was Severus Snape.

In his heart, Sirius did not want him to come - of course he did not and he was not going to lie to himself over it – or to anyone else if they asked. But he was sure if Severus was there, Harry was going to feel better about meeting the other children and the entire evening. And so asking him to come over had been in fact a bit of a no brainer.

The biggest surprise of it all was when he had agreed to come.

"So how many of them are there again?" asked Remus as he stood in the kitchen with Harry, the pair of them in aprons as they made their next round of cakes.

The three of them had been living in the house for three weeks and to Remus' delight it was already beginning to feel like a real home.

"Well, if you are counting Molly and Arthur then all, in all nine," said Sirius as he unpacked the butte beer he had just got in.

With a little drink, a roaring fire and some tunes, it was going to almost feel as if the separation had never happened.

"Are any of them my age, Padfoot?" Harry asked as he stood on a stool next to a mixing bowl. Just one of the perks of living with Remus and Harry were the cakes they made, thought Sirius – and they were really quite good.

"Yes, their youngest son Ron is going to be in the same year as you when you both go to school, and then just older than you are their twins, Fred and George."

He was glad there were so many boys. It might have been harder for Harry to get on with girls straight away. There was no denying the fact he had got on a lot better with men than women since he had returned to his true world.

"They've only one girl – Ginny, she is a year younger than you."

Harry nodded, taking in what he had been told. "If it all gets a bit too much for you Harry then you just tell us ok? One of us will go upstairs with you, or Severus. Or if you really don't like it-"

"I'll be fine."

Harry said it quietly and without annoyance but there was a definite tone in his voice which had not been there before.

It was not that he was not nervous over everyone coming over; and he was sure, at times, he might find it a little overwhelming. But the thing that settled him was the fact he knew if he had Sirius and Remus there with him, as well as Severus, then nothing too bad was going to go wrong.

They would allow no harm to come to him.

"Right – good. Carry on baking," said Sirius with amusement in his eyes.

XXX

"I did not even dare to hope he was going to be so confident so soon –but it is a lovely thing to see isn't it?" the Animagus said later on that night.

Having put the lad to bed ten minutes before hand, he and Remus were reflected on what had been it seemed, another quietly, triumphant day.

"It is – it has put my mind at rest over how he is going to handle things from now on. I don't suppose we can really ever know how he has recovered from what _they_ did to him or if he will. But he is happy with me and you, that much is clear. And it is enough for me," Remus nodded as the two of them finally allowed themselves to say the words which they had been holding back on for so long, never allowing the congratulations to shine through. Until now.

XXX

To the joy of the three hosts, it snowed on the day of the party adding something more to the atmosphere – an excitement over a white Christmas.

This was going to be a Christmas party the like they had never seen before – mainly because they had never had the opportunity to enjoy one together before.

The sun had gone done by six and at half past Snape arrived. As usual, it was not because Sirius and Remus had wanted him there early but he was good for Harry.

That was something neither of them were going to deny any more.

They couldn't even if they tried.

"Merry Christmas Sev!"

Severus smiled back but deep down he was grimacing. The marauders knew as well as he did that he was not and he was never going to be the partying going type. But he had agreed to come – and that was primarily for two reasons, not just one.

The first was the one that the marauders themselves had given to him. That even though Harry had said he was fine with the two of them throwing the party, they wanted him to be there with him just in case. As far as he was concerned, he would do anything to make Harry feel just that little more secure. That was of paramount importance in spite of his growing confidence.

But there was the added attraction that he got to see the house. When Harry had told him they were going to be moving he had found himself curious as to where the lad was going to be living – it was only natural he was going to take an interest in his home life.

"And a merry Christmas to you as well Harry!" he said in reply.

As soon as he sat down on the sofa, Harry was at his side and he was telling him of all the things he had been doing since he had moved in.

"Sirius says when the New Year is past we are going to be able to go into the forests and explore!"

The only reason the two of them had not done already Harry knew was due to the fact there had been so much else to do.

Harry eyes glowed as they told Snape so, especially about the forest. Severus did not know what to make of it – begrudgingly, he knew that if Harry was with his godfather than he was going to be fine. Yet, he himself had not been much of an explorer when he had been a boy – he had never been one to go out and climb trees, whereas, he thought he knew the lad well enough to know that was something which Harry was going to be able to enjoy in time.

Maybe that was part of the reason that Black had invited so many young lads over as well – to try and get Harry a partner in crime.

He was never going to say it but it was just another of Sirius decisions he was actually_ in_ agreement with. He remembered the first time he had learnt that Sirius had Harry and he recalled the anger he had felt at that fact.

He had thought he was going to be confronted by a mini James and that was the one thing he had been focusing on – but the truth was, he did not think even had Sirius wanted to do that he could have. Harry was a little person in his own right and no one could undo the horrors he had been through and no one could ever take the affect that had had on the formation of his character away.

"I am sure the two of you are going to enjoy doing that together very much," he said with an _almost _indulgent smile.

"Do you want to come up and see my new room?" he offered – "it's really nice."

Severus was sure that it was. "Very well." He said as the two of them got up off the sofa and turned to the stairs. He and Black made eye contact as the two of them headed up.

The longer the two of them knew one another it seemed to him, the harder the other became to read.

In the past, when the two of them had been at school he had had no trouble in knowing what Sirius had thought about him – mainly because Black had made sure the entire student population knew how much he loathed him. But the truce was making it harder for them both to see the other for who he was.

"Even now I don't like trusting him Moony," he told Remus once they were out of ear shot.

"You have too – we have too."

There was not going back – not any more. It was as simple as that, the way that the werewolf saw it.

A knock at the door brought a swift end to the conversation. The Tonks and the Weasley's had both arrived.

"Hello, hello, hello!" said Sirius with a broad smile as he answered the door. He wanted to make a good impression on Molly and Arthur. As much as he knew it did not matter what they thought of him – it did.

He wanted them to like him and to actually believe he was not the crazed mass murderer he was meant to be. Even if he had been reported to be innocent, a tag like that was not one you could simply shake off over night.

They had to like him if they were going to let their boys be part of his lad's life. They **had** to like him...

He had had a lot of respect for them ever since he had learnt they were juggling to bring up their seven children – the gods above knew one was hard enough – and he had thought he had known how hard work it had been for them, he thought he could imagine it – until he had seen them. Seven kids looked even more work than he had thought they were going to be.

There was Bill the eldest, who had been a Hogwarts a year or two longer than his kid cousin and his brother, Charlie, was in Nymph's year if Sirius remembered right. Next in age was Percy who was due to join them at Hogwarts soon enough. Whereas Bill and Charlie's seem to be quite easy going lads by the looks of them, he instantly got a more serious and perhaps more nervous vibe from the third brother.

When he looked at him, he seemed to move closer to his mother – for protection? He did not know if he was going to get on with this kid.

Thankfully, it seemed as if the next two in line to the family name were going to redeem him.

"Mr Black?" said Fred as soon as he got in the door. "How do you obliterate someone leaving only there little finger? "

"Yeah, we were wondering – having four brothers and a squealing sister, that is the sort of information we could find seriously helpful," George pondered as if he had put a lot of thought into it.

It took a moment for Sirius to realise what they had said and process it. He took another moment to decide they were joking – and a millisecond to decide he seriously liked these boys already.

"Fred, George," their mother berated them as she went bright red. No doubt the kids had been told before they were due to leave that they were to say nothing of the time he had spent in jail – needless to say he preferred the boy's way.

Quite without warning, he remembered another pair of little boys who would have been fearless to say such a thing – and he found a lot of comfort in the fact that the spirit he and James had had within them was not yet dead.

And then on the end of the family he saw Ron and Ginny. His cousin had said that the lad was the same age as Harry and so he was more than likely going to be the one he grew closest with as he grew up…

As long as it all went well, then perhaps Harry was going to have a brother, after all and that was more than Sirius had even _dared _to hope for him.

"Thank you so much for asking us over," Arthur Weasley said to Sirius. His wife seemed a little more tentative about him but he was not going to blame her for that. He was just going to charm her into liking him.

It was a much better plan and much more likely to help him achieve his own ends.

"It is nothing at all," he said as the two of them shook hands. He was a little nervous even then but he was sure he was going to be able to get the hang of all this hosting business.

Remus was soon getting everyone drinks and taking coats. Andromeda aided him in this task – she was no longer treated as a guest in the house. She was a regular visitor and Sirius was pretty sure she was just going to treat the place as her own, which was as if should be.

He turned to see that Harry and Snape were coming back down the stairs. No doubt, having heard the commotion the lad had thought he had to meet everyone and he was going to do it sooner than later.

"Harry, why don't you come and greet our guests?" he said to him as he reached out his hand for him but for a moment the child choose to stay by Snape's side. Severus put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

It was a big moment for all of them. No doubt the Weasley kids had been briefed on what they were to do around Harry but the first meeting with Nymphadora still had to be in Harry's mind. It was in his godfather's, that was for sure.

He did not want that to happen again – but kids were going to be kids.

"Hey Harry," Sirius' little cousin said as she moved forward to break the tension, a lot more naturally than she had been about him before. She had said it in a manner she might have to any other child.

The Weasley's were not so natural with him though. It was still hitting Sirius that his godson since that awful Halloween night was the stuff of legends – before he was old enough to wield a wand.

He wondered what Molly and Arthur had said to their children about Harry before they had known they were going to be meeting him. It was quite clearly the two younger of the seven children who looked most nervous over meeting him, though Ron did off Harry a friendly smile.

He smiled a little as he moved forward. "I am ok – how was school?" Harry asked curious.

He could not wait until it was his own turn to go!

"It was so good wasn't it, Charlie?" she said as she turned to her peer who nodded with enthusiasm.

"Why don't you all go through to the living room kids? I am sure Nymph and Charlie will tell you all about school..." Remus said cheerfully as he and Sirius put the last off the coat's they had been given on the pegs.

"Because it is going to be fascinating..." George sighed.

"For the millionth time," Fred finished for him.

Nevertheless, when Charlie and Nymphadora lead the group into the living room with Harry, the twins went with them. It was obvious they were trying to be as natural as they could be with him – but they were children and this was a lad they had been brought up to think of as a hero. And Sirius found 'trying' to be natural didn't often work.

"I'll take some lemonade through to them," said Remus eager to stay with Harry until he got to know the others though it sounded as if little Miss Tonks was making short work of the introductions.

"Thank you very much for coming," Sirius turned back to the Weasley's. "A million people wouldn't have."

"You have done nothing wrong – " Arthur said with a shrug. "If the ministry is happy about that, then who are we to judge? Besides, Harry is – well, he is something special – we were eager to meet him. Not that we need to tell you that."

"Of course," Sirius replied, momentarily anxious that they were going to be like the kids themselves when they did speak to Harry.

"Andromeda told us some of what's happened to the poor boy," Molly explained.

Sirius nodded. He had thought his cousin would have to disclose some of what they had been through, to give them a bit of an understanding of why they were so protective of Harry and who he saw, as well as they had waited so long to take this step.

"Things have been rather fraught at times," he admitted to her. "But he's doing a lot better than he was now – in the last month or so, he has really begun to settle."

"I am glad – he has a rough time of it by all accounts," Arthur sighed heavily. Being a father of seven himself, his heart broke when he heard what the lad has been through. If anybody had treated one of his little ones that way... Arthur was a man of peace but... There were some things that broke even the gentlest man.

"Indeed – but we want him to try and start putting it behind him now," Sirius turned the conversation away from the horrors of the past few months. "And part of that I think it trying to get him about kids his own age."

"Which is where the lads and Ginny come in," Molly finished for him. Personally, she was thrilled that he had chosen their kids for Harry to socialise with. It was a good thing for all of them as far as she could see.

"Well – yes."

It had all made sense in the mind of Sirius Black ever since Andromeda had told him. He had to know he could trust the parents of the kids Harry was mixing with – and he did not think parents came more Gryffindor or trustworthy than the Weasley's.

"We're glad."

As if to punctuate their conversation, the first round of childish laughter came from the living room filling him with more confidence than what he had felt.

Putting his head round the door, he smiled. Harry had taken a seat on the floor between the two twins who seemed to have appointed themselves as his protectors already.

On the sofa above him, sat Ron and by his side his sister Ginny who was annoyingly staring at Harry – but then she was a little kid still, and he _was _her hero. He knew it was a big deal for all of the kids and not just for Harry. They were too young to grasp all he had been through. Even if they did know, then it would most likely just lead to too many awkward questions.

Better they just got on with getting to know one another themselves. Kids had a knack for doing that and parents never gave them enough credit for it.

When he saw him standing in the door way Harry gave Sirius a smile but he did not run to him for comfort. He just sat there and listened to the other kids as Nymph, Bill and Charlie held court over the younger ones. He could look more comfortable – but that was going to come in time.

"Right the first round of lemonades is up," said Remus as he came into the room followed by Severus. Now that the other kids had turned up it was apparent that he had very little to do there but he could not just take off either...

He would end up going into the kitchen with the rest of the adults but he did not think he would enjoy the conversation much.

"Sweeties and chocolates are coming up soon," Remus announced as he passed round the cups.

The adults turned from the room to let the children get on with one another – if Harry got spooked then he was sure to come and find Sirius, Remus or Severus.

Butterbeers were soon handed out to the adults in the kitchen and they sat round the large kitchen table laughing. They were just a group of friends, getting together at Christmas to celebrate and share a drink.

It was all so _normal_.

It was the way it was always meant to be.

They had been there for about half an hour when one of the Weasley boys came out to the adults. Sirius thought he was the one just older than the twins.

"Mummy?"

"Are you ok, Percy?"

"Can we go yet?"

When he had been in the living room he had been the only one who had not been having a good time – all the others were getting on. It was_ not_ that he did not like the games they were playing or get on with them or like hearing about Hogwarts, because he did. But...

"Perce, don't be so rude," Arthur gently chastised his son.

"You not having a good time buddy?" asked Sirius.

"A kindred spirit at last..." drawled Severus but the Animagus let it go.

"What's wrong?"

Percy had been about to tell his father when his mother spoke up. "I know what this is all about – is it that rat you found in the garden?"

"He is going to be getting lonely mum! I said I was going to look after him."

Arthur chuckled. "I am sure he is going to be fine for a couple of hours."

"Is he your first pet?" asked Remus and the little lad nodded. "What's his name?"

"Scabbers."

_Please review!_


	19. New Year

**Chapter 18**

"It!" Harry could not help but feel delighted as he managed to catch Fred.

An hour and a half into the visit with the Weasley's and Harry was just about keeping up with the other kids, while they played tag in the garden. The snowy lawn was populated by the children that night for the first time that evening. Though they were wrapped up in their winter costs, it was just how Sirius had thought it was going to be when he had first tried to get the house.

Harry turned and run away, desperate to be not it once more by Fred when he had just got him. He had seen Charlie do it to Bill more than once and the two of them had just been stuck it-ing one another for a while until one of them could break away.

He did not want to get caught up in that.

But when he hot tailed away his foot caught and he fell.

Having been watching from the window at that moment, Sirius went to gout to him to help him up yet Remus grabbed his arm, knowing this was precisely the sort of thing that they had to let him do on his own at times.

"He'll pick himself back up – look," the werewolf said gently.

Remus was right as it turned out. Harry did not even look to see if he was going to come running to get him up. He just brushed himself down and got on with the game as if he was any other boy playing with his friends.

It gave Sirius a sense of liberation – and as inexplicable as it was, a feeling of grief.

When he had first come to him, he had needed Sirius to be his all. But with the growing confidence Harry also begun to gain his independence.

He was never going to stop loving Sirius and he was going to need him for days to come yet. However...

"He is growing up," he sighed as he watched him from the window.

He had not expected it to happen so soon. He had missed so many years with his godson. And when he had been so dependent... part of him had always seen Harry as a baby. Perhaps part of him always would...

But he was not. He was a little man in his own right and with that first brush down, Sirius knew he was beginning to make his own way in the world.

It was a small step, but a step none the less.

Sat in the living room at the end of the night, Sirius felt as if he was more than able to pat himself and Harry as well as Remus on the back for a good nights work. Together, and with a little help from their friends, they had managed to make a few more and had he thought been rather good hosts.

He felt sure Molly and Arthur were going to be more than willing to make play dates between Harry and the lads.

Mission accomplished.

**New Year...**

"So far today the poor little fella has been Jamie, Bertie as well as horribly enough, Sevvy. If Harry does not make his mind up soon then the pup is going to develop split personality disorder," Remus announced as he came in from the yard to find Sirius pulling on a jacket.

Christmas had come and gone far quicker than either of them would have liked it too if they were honest. They had both so been looking forward to the look on Harry's face when he had opened his first ever bunch of presents from Santa Claus. It had taken some explaining as to why he had never come before, and how despite this fact, he had known Harry was a good lad all along. Lots of blame on the Dursleys had soon put an end to Harry's own theories though as they tried to stop any of the old insecurities coming back unwelcomed.

Harry had been spoiled thoroughly that Christmas though, as he had deserved to be. His toy box was at last brimming and his book shelf was stacked. However, toys and books had paled in significance when he had got the one thing he had really wanted.

The chocolate Labrador pup (who Sirius had always seen as 'Buttons' for some reason or other, not that he was his to name) had been literally just what Harry had wanted it seemed.

In spite of the fact that he and Remus had tried to be strict to begin with, it was now beginning to be harder and harder to separate the boy and pup. They had tried to install the rule that he was to sleep downstairs but so far every morning when Sirius had got up, the puppy had managed to make its way up the stairs on to the foot of Harry's bed. The Animagus could not help but wonder if he had some aid in doing so.

Oddly enough, if that was the case, part of him was over the moon with Harry's defiance.

Something told him he had not exactly got this parenting thing down to an art yet... Harry was, however, well fed, happy and loved. If he had yet to work out the finer details, he was at least sure he was going in the right direction.

"Well, if he is called Jamie then he is going to have the house destroyed in an hour so I am not going to have that. He can't be a Bertie because that makes him an old man when he is just a pup still and I don't care if it had two or four legs – I am not living with a Sevvy, whether it makes Harry happy or not. I have my limits, Moony."

Perhaps predictably though it did not come to that, as Harry later declared that day the pup was indeed a Jamie.

"We are going to go for a walk in the forest? You up for it Moony?" said Sirius as he realised they were going to just have an hour left of day light. Better that he got_ both_ his pups worn out before bed.

Remus shook his head perhaps as Sirius could have predicted. It was edging toward that time of the month.

"I think I am going to stay here – but you guys have a good time."

As much as he had had a wonderful time when Christmas had been upon them, the werewolf was left more than a little tired from it. Full moon was once more nearly upon them. But he felt better than he had done in quite a while considering where he was in the lunar cycle.

Everything had settled down and he finally dared to think all was rosy in there garden.

"You're pensive."

The fact that Remus could count on one hand the times he had said that to Sirius on one hand in their entire friendship, he knew there had to be something up.

"I am," he said to him with a sigh.

"So what is it? Talk to me Padfoot."

Sirius sighed. It looked to Remus as if he had something on his conscience. "What is it?"

"I have just been thinking lately. The two of us have been trying hard to make things as normal for Harry as we can right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it just hit me that normal would be me going to work, like Arthur does, and Ted."

He had been thinking about it more and more since Harry had begun to settle down. It was not as if he was so needed as he had been in the early days any more. Harry and Remus would be fine. Financially, it made a lot of sense for him to be the one to go to work, due to the limited amount of employers who would take Remus on. They were not going to starve if he didn't get a job but he did not want to spend all the money he had inherited on day to day things. He was sure even the deepest well runs dry.

And then lastly, there was the matter of a certain rat to be dealt with. Until he had made sure that Pettigrew got what was coming to him, he was sure James's ghost was not going to be able to rest either – and neither would he.

Remus could not say he was against the idea entirely. Sirius had never been one to twiddle his thumbs all day.

But then he was also able to see the arguments he was using as reasons not to go back to work. Harry was naturally always going to be the main thing against it. He knew if Harry had his way then he was not going to miss a day of his life. The little pup always wanted his godfather close by.

Secondly, if they were clever about his investments, then Sirius did at least in theory have enough to support them as he had said he was going to until Harry went to school – when they could both get jobs as they weren't going to be needed at home.

Finally, he had the name Sirius Black and he was still relatively new out of jail. He had to be careful about not over doing it. But then if anything Remus knew anything about his friend at all, he knew that was going to make Sirius want to go to work more so that he had a chance to stick his middle finger up at the nay sayers. To show he was fine...

Yet at the end of the day, it was his choice.

"I think if you want to then you should be able too."

They were parents; and they were always going to put the need of the child in their care above their own. But it did not mean they did not have wishes or lives of their own to live.

"I have to do his if I am ever going to get to that – that _rat_ the three of us took for a friend. When he turned into a rat, we should have known. A dog, a stag and a rat? What were we thinking?"

Remus agreed as he gave as mournful sigh. He was never going to forgive himself for not seeing the signs just as Sirius would never...

And as much as he wanted to say something adult like they had to put the past behind them if they were ever going to reach a future in which they were going to be happy, he knew Peter had to pay. That was imperative.

If he did, then he knew himself for one was going to sleep a lot better than he had up to that point.

If he lived on then he was always going to be able to come back and finish what he had started. As long as Harry lived then he was going to be a target for the faithless fourth marauder. If Wormtail died then he could do nothing. Yet it was Voldemort who had to die for Harry to be safe.

But killing Wormtail felt like a good start.

"I don't know – but I think for him alone then you should go back. He is out there and he has to be found."

If they were doing things at least in appearance by the book, they had a bigger chance of finding him than if they were on their own.

"I am going to go to Dumbledore and see what he thinks."

It was not that he had any more faith in him than he had had when he had come out of jail. But it felt as if the professor was a good place to start if he was going to go back into the ministry. The ministry who had locked him up without evidence for years on end.

* * *

As ever, Dumbledore was only too happy when he got a call from Sirius. He missed the days when he had been a hero to the young Gryffindor more than ever.

When he had said he wanted to come to him for help, he had been only too glad to open his doors to him once more. He knew he did not view him as he had done – but it was a step in the right direction.

All the concern he had had about letting Harry live with his godfather he knew head been proved unjust. He could not care for the lad more if he was his son.

Sirius was a wonderful father for all the faults he had – they numbered many, as he was sure Black himself would admit. But he was by no means failing as a parent.

"Professor," said the younger of the two men as he came into the office not wishing to be overly formal with him but neither wanting the two of them to have cosy little chat, something he had out grown long ago.

But then he knew he had to be civil at the same time for he wanted a favour when he came here.

For the most part he felt as if he had gotten over the worse of the effect of Azkaban. All he had to do now was make sure that the professor could see that as well.

"Sirius, it is good to see you," Dumbledore said to him in reply, genuinely.

He had hoped that he would get to see the marauders and Harry a little more over Christmas but neither had he liked to push in. He had not always got the warmest reception when he went to the flat. And he was yet to see the house which they had moved too.

"Thank you sir."

"And how are Harry and Remus?" he was eager for any news he might be able to get of the lads development.

"He is a lot better now than he was. He had a great Christmas."

Dumbledore was glad to hear it even if he wished he had been a part of it. It was about time the lad had a childhood and he saw it now. He really did. "I trust you too had a festive holiday?"

Sirius smiled; that had come naturally when he had seen his boy having such a good time, seeing how easily he had receive the presents which he been given.

And then there had been the sheer rush of joy he had felt when he had given him Jamie.

It had been the first time Harry had ever received something he had ever wished hard for.

And it had been a moment Sirius would not have missed for all the tea in china.

"I did; as did Remus. We had a really wonderful time."

"Good."

"And did you have a restful holiday sir?" Sirius asked to be polite.

"It was – peaceful."

"Good."

"Well, what is it that I can do for you today Sirius?"

The Animagus stopped for a moment trying to gage the reaction which the professor was going to give him to what he was about to request.

Yet the fact was he did not know the aging head master well enough anymore, if he had ever known him well, to know what he would think.

"You see the thing is, sir, Remus and I have been talking. Harry has really settled down wonderfully into our new home now – and I was beginning to think it was high time we introduced another element of normality to his life. And the one we want that to be is me going to work." He said to him - perhaps predictably the old man's face for now remained unreadable.

Sirius got out of his chair. Again, he was nervous when he was in Dumbledore's presence – stupid he knew but he was. He had hoped he was never going to give this man power over their lives again and yet the moment he had needed help his he had gone running to him as he might have when he had only just graduated.

"It is just, I know I am never going to be happy until I know that Peter is behind bars and as long as he is not, then I am doing an injustice not only to the memory of Lily and James but also to Harry. And on top of that I am a good auror – you know I am."

"If that is what you want, then of course, I will talk to Mr Moody for you."

Sirius had never thought it was going to be that easy.

"Well, thank you sir – thank you very much."

Whatever he had thought the younger man was going to ask him when he had come into his office that day, he had not thought he was going to be asking to go back to work.

He had thought the man was just going to be a stay at home dad to Harry until the lad was ready to go to school. After he had missed so much time with Harry, it was quite a shock to him that he wanted to join the nine to five workers once more – though being an Auror had never been a nine to five job.

But – but since he had been back, he had seen that he had been wrong about a lot of things when it came to Remus and Sirius as well as Harry. And he knew at least in part, he was responsible for the fact they had not been together since...

Well, he had been wrong - he knew he had been wrong now.

And Sirius was right he was a good Auror. He and James had been the best of their generation with Frank Longbottom. Maybe that was why it had been so hard to see their year destroyed. Because all of them, in their own way, had had so much promise.

They were leaders and had they all lived as they should have then he knew that right then the ministry would have been stronger than it had ever been before.

But they had not.

* * *

Remus was glad that the meeting had gone so well - that Sirius had got what he had wanted. It seemed to him that they were tired of fighting uphill for everything they wanted, for all their lives.

Precious few things came easily in this life and if it was worth it, then he had no doubt that Sirius would fight teeth and nail to get to it as he had always had done in the past. But why should he have to?

He had done nothing wrong and he could be as productive as any other member of wizarding society. Why should he not work if he wanted too?

And he agreed with him – the two of them had been idle too long when it came to the matter of Peter Pettigrew. There were very few things that mattered now they had Harry back.

But he was one of them.

He had to be found and he had to pay for what he had done. Not only for the lives he had taken but for the years he had stolen.

As long as he was out there then they were not going to be able to rest. Not truly.

"Have you told Harry you are going to go back?"

He had planned to talk to the lad before he had gone to see the headmaster. But to see Pettigrew come to justice – the thought had taken him over and he hadn't. As it was though, he been thinking about what Harry was going to do with himself as well.

As much as he would love to let him play all day every day, that was a dream for a perfect world.

He was six, soon to be seven. He had four years to get up to speed with his reading and his writing before he headed into school.

Luckily, it seemed that he and Remus were not the only ones who had been putting though into Harry's education.

"Not yet. Why?"

Remus cleared his throat. "I got a letter from Molly and she said she would be happy to have Harry over at the Burrow. I can go with him if you are at work and he can learn with Ron and the twins."

They both knew he might be a bit less distracted if he was to learn at home. But it was going to be much more fun if he was in a 'class' with other kids. Learning aside by side with the Weasley boys was going to force them to bond together.

"Sounds like a bit of plan to me if I am honest."

The end of the last year had been a break with the past; and even though he had known it, it wasn't until that evening that it became clear to Harry Potter.

He was the happiest he had ever been he thought as he climbed into bed in his new dragon pyjamas which he had got for Christmas. As soon as he was under the covers, Jamie jumped up by his side and settled down.

One of these days he had a feeling that Sirius and Remus were going to give in and let him sleep with him permanently.

"You in bed yet mate?" he heard a call from down stairs.

"Yup."

Sirius bounded up the stairs as he always did to tuck him in.

"Are you ok?" he said as he got there. Harry nodded.

Over dinner, Sirius and Remus had told him about the changes that were going to be going on in their lives. And he was happy because he knew he was going to be seeing more of the Weasley's.

He had always wondered what it had felt like to have friends and for the night of the Christmas party he had known. None of them had been mean to him – none of them had thought he was stupid. They had simply treated him as if he was one of them.

He had never had that sort of inclusion before. He had been able to laugh with, at them and vice versa. It had been brilliant and he knew he wanted to have that more often.

But he was not sure what he thought of Sirius going to work. He knew it was not going to be so bad – Remus was going to be home with him and he was going to be with his friends.

But it was going to be weird...

"You know if it does not work out then I can always quit and come home and be with you in the day again. You mustn't be afraid to tell me in a few weeks, once we've given it a go, if you are not happy. I'd hate to think that you could not tell me if you were unhappy."

"I know," said Harry as he settled into the crock of Sirius' arm, snuggling into him.

"That's my boy," Sirius said as he kissed his forehead.

It was brought home to Sirius that all he had to go on when it came to being a parent was trial and error. If one thing didn't work, then he would move on to the next thing. And then the next...

But they were happy as they were... so why was he trying to mend something that was not in fact broken.

Yet, he knew the answer to that one. To make sure that, at long last, justice was done.

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	20. Adjustments

**Chapter 19**

Sirius felt the same way he had about the first day of school on a chilly morning at the end of January. For once, it seemed to him that the old headmaster of Hogwarts had been as true as his word and he found himself getting up at seven o'clock to be ready to leave for work by eight.

Of course, he was not the only one who was going to be doing a first today.

Remus had been corresponding with Molly Weasley quite a bit of few the past few weeks and the first letter he had sent had been saying how grateful they were that she would think to invite Harry to learn with her own children.

If Molly was the teacher, then Remus was now class room assistant. He would be going with the Burrow with Harry.

He did not see the point of Harry going off and him staying at home like a lemon on his own, that was not what any of them had signed up for when they moved in together. He knew there were going to be times when he had to be on his own... but he did not like them.

And so it was a busy morning in the Black-Lupin household. "You don't think the others are going to think I am stupid, do you?" said Harry to his godfather as he and Sirius walked Jamie about the house. Jamie, too, was going for a day out; at Andromeda's. With Ted at work and Dora at school, she was at a bit of a lose end and she had said she was going to be only too pleased to have a bit of company.

"No, I don't think that. I think that they might be a bit ahead of you because you have had a lot more to deal with than they have. But I know you are a quick learner and with Remus with you, you're bound to pick everything up real quick. I can help you tonight when I get back too."

It was not as if he had not been without Sirius before, thought Harry. He had been fine when he had been at Severus' – and he knew he was going to be gone less time than that.

But it was permanent. Harry guessed it was just going to take a bit of getting used to. But if he had got used to the idea that there was magic in the world, then the idea of Sirius going to work should not be such a big deal.

* * *

"I am glad to see you have come back to join the ranks. I must say I did not think it would take you so long but then I guess you have had s lot on your hands with that young lad."

That was the greeting Sirius got when he arrived at Moodys' office.

Some things didn't change – apparently this crazy elder man was one of them.

"Harry has needed to me to be at home for a while since he has rejoined our world."

"And he is ready for you to come back now?"

Sirius shrugged. "I hope so. He has gone off to his first day of lessons today with friends so it is a bit of a big day all around."

Sirius did not think Mad Eye was very interested in their home life though.

"Well, it is indeed a big day for the lot of you then," he said dismissively."Dumbledore said you wanted to come back but he did not say why though it is not so hard to guess. For a while, you're behind a desk. You need to settle back in, Black."

"That was not why I became an Auror, even in the first place and you know it Moody," Said Sirius as his blood rose within him. "It is not why any of us become Aurors." He had to be out in the field if he was put together a picture of what Peter had done since he had been in Azkaban.

"Yes, I am aware of that fact, Black. Which of us really joins for the paperwork? But I have got to see how you really are back in the working environment before I can send you out once more. Pace yourself and take your time. Patience."

If he went off at Moody, then he was only going to earn himself more hours sitting behind a desk - not something he wanted to do. He needed coffee. Or five minutes to himself.

"Go and get something to eat. Then we're going to talk."

He had spoken with Dumbledore and he knew the Potters had not had a more loyal friend than Sirius at the end. He felt very sorry for the boy. For all he had been through and still had to be going through.

Yet, he was not going to break the rules for him. He had been out of the Auror department for a long time. The way things were done had changed. If Sirius simply walked straight back in, then he was going to do his job the way they had in the first war.

He had to relearn. He had to figure out where his place in the department was now.

* * *

Sirius sat in the staff canteen. For the first time in years, he wanted to do nothing more than to go and smoke a cigarette. His figures itched. He had never been a huge smoker – and he has always been well aware of the risks. Wizards had naturally figured these things out long before the muggles had. Yet, he had been a social smoker – something that in the eyes of the venerable Lily Potter made him an idiot. She was right of course, it was mugs game.

And he would not even socially do it when he had Harry in his care out of respect for both him and his mother.

But he was just in that state of mind.

If he sat back and thought about it logically, Moody was right; he had to ease himself back in gently and get to grips with the basics again.

When he got home and told Remus, he was going to be understanding about the position Moody was in as well. He wondered if the werewolf had even thought that there wasn't a chance he was going to go straight behind a desk; he wondered why he had not assumed that.

He felt like a fool.

"Now, that is a face of a man who has already had a rough day," said Ted Tonks as he came up behind him with a sympathetic smile.

"Indeed, it is my friend."

"What's up? Coming back in not exactly what you thought it was going to be?"

"Not really," said Sirius, as he imagined what he would be doing if he was still at home – probably chasing Jamie and Harry about. Maybe Remus and Harry would be doing another batch of cookies.

What the hell had he been thinking? Who would give up that for this?

"I hate it when I have to come back in after a holiday so I can't imagine what it has been like for you – not what you've had a holiday, mate, but you know what I mean."

"I do Ted. I appreciate it," taking a dip of his coffee, Sirius seriously contemplated whether he was too far into get out. Maybe he should go home. Maybe he was meant to stay at home with Harry. He'd loved it – and they always had a lot of fun together. And if he was at home then he could help out with his education more.

But... all the defeatist thought. It wasn't like him. Not one bit – and he suddenly knew why – because he didn't _like_ it.

"You know it's a good thing you're trying to do. To bring Peter to justice. You know as well as I do it has to be done."

Sirius' head snapped up. He had not even realised that Ted had known the real reason why he had come back. But Andromeda had. He should have known that the two of them had very few secrets from one another. A fact which he was incredible grateful for at that moment.

For one moment, when he looked up – it was not Ted standing across from him. It was James.

"Thanks man," he nodded.

That was exactly what he had needed to hear.

* * *

"Is it seventeen?" Harry said nervously.

So far, being at the Burrow for class she not been too bad. He had even had a_ good_ time in the morning when his ad got there. Mrs Weasley and Remus had had a cup of tea before they had settled to work, so he had been allowed to go into the yard and play around with his friends.

Fred, George and Ron were the ones he got on with the best. He supposed it was because they were nearest him in age. Even though they were young, there was also something in the twins that reminded him strongly of his godfather.

It was obviously not the same paternal protectiveness, but when he really looked at the way they were with him, they did not treat him so differently from the way that they treated Ron.

So far, they had been more than willing to take him under their wing as another younger brother, something for which he was very grateful for. After all, it was not as if they needed another sibling.

He had always thought it was so hard to make friends when he had been living with his aunt and his uncle. He had never had anyone like Fred and George when he had been there.

Somehow he knew it could not have been all his fault.

Not anymore.

Either that or Sirius and Remus just made everything better.

As much as he had fun that morning though, when they settled down to classes he had found it a little harder. Since he had been with his godfather and his uncle they had done relatively little school work.

They had just had a lot of fun instead.

Suddenly, Remus wished he had thought about it a little more. And yet when he remembered everything else they had had to do, to bond together, to get Harry to understand what it was to be a child... well, something had had to be scarified.

No, he knew they had done the right thing. They had had to focus on the most important things in life.

Harry was a bright boy he had proved that time and time again.

He would be able to catch up.

And for that question at least, the time when he was going to be caught up did not seem to be so far away.

"Quite right, Harry!" said Mrs. Weasley delighted with her student.

When the others got it right she had not sounded quite so excited though and he felt his cheeks flush scarlet.

"I don't want to single him out," explained Molly over lunch, once the children had gone back outside. "I am sorry if I did."

She was trying very hard to act normal about Harry, very hard indeed. She knew there was going to come a time in his life when he understood why every child in their world knew his name. Why everyone looked at him for hope.

But that time was not yet.

And besides, that was just her mind thinking things it shouldn't, Molly knew.

Voldemort was gone and he was not going to come back. Her heart knew it was not the truth. But she was the mother of seven. She had to believe it.

She had to be able to raise them without fear. And so she lied to herself. She told herself all was going to be fine and he was gone. And they would never know terror as they had done before again.

Considering the way that Remus knew others might have been with Harry learning with their kids, Remus thought Molly was doing surprisingly well. She had been born to be a mother that was for sure.

"Not at all, Molly, we both know he is not going to get anywhere unless he gets a bit of positive reinforcement. I am just glad you are willing to let me stay with him. Especially today."

"Well, it is not as if I am running a proper school is it? Besides, I think he needs you to be here with him at the moment. How did he cope with Sirius going in to work today?"

"A lot better than Sirius did I think. He knows he is going to see him tonight."

"And he has you with him," She said and Remus knew he would have to be deaf to miss the admiring tone in Molly's voice. "The things you are both doing for him... between you, you've changed that boy's life. You know that don't you?"

He nodded. He saw the way Harry was running around – the way that he was in general. And he knew it was true.

But he was not the only ones who life had changed.

* * *

"At least if you are in the ministry then you can look at the evidence. You can try and figure everything out. Put the pieces of the puzzle together for how he did what he did and where he went."

Remus was trying to comfort Sirius but he did not think he was doing that good of a job. For instance he did not need for Sirius to start punching the holes in his arguments; he knew they were there.

"I do not think it even matters what happened on that day any more. The fact is he could literally be anywhere in the world now. And I don't know where to start looking."

"Which is why you have got to go back to the very beginning."

There was some sort of sense to it. He could see why Remus was suggesting it. But looking into what happened on that night and the day that followed – well, it would hurt.

It would hurt a lot.

But if he did not then James was never going to get any sort of justice was he. It did not matter how much it hurt he told himself. He had to do it – and he would. After all, he had his Gryffindor courage to get him through it.

He had been in the kitchen when he heard the tell tale pitter patter of paws and little feet.

"You're home!"

And suddenly it was all worth it and he knew why he was going ahead with it – because when he got home at night, he was always going to get this greeting.

This was what he was fighting for; this was why he had to get Peter behind bars.

"Pup!" he said as the child rushed into his arms. Picking Harry up, he cuddled him close and kissed him. He had missed him when he had been at work but he did not think he had known how much till the moment he had him back in his arms. "Did you have a good day, buddy?" Sirius asked as he smoothed down the back of Harry's hair.

"Yeah I did, it was so much fun! When we were done with lessons for the day, I helped Ron and the twins de-gnome the garden," He said with a wide smile on his face.

"So Molly is already using the lad for slave labour," laughed Sirius approvingly.

"But it was so much fun. Can I go again?"

Sirius was so glad to hear him ask that. It felt as if he had done the right thing when he had gone back to work and when he had let Harry go a bit.

"Are you kidding, I think you're going most days."

He had to give him the independence he was clearly ready for.

Bending down, he patted and stroked and generally made a fuss of Jamie once he had put Harry down; the pup that seemed to be very like his name sake. He did not like to be ignored that was for sure.

"And did this one have a good day?"

"Andy said he was a bit of a menace but then she also said that if we need her to have him again then she would be happy to have him, so he can't have been too bad," Remus replied.

"Good stuff," Sirius sighed happily.

All in all, he guessed work had not been _so_ bad. True he had not got what he had wanted but it was a definite place to start. He was in – that was the main thing. Harry had survived a whole day with other kids and better than that he had enjoyed it.

"Domestic bliss indeed."

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	21. The Calm Before The Storm

**Chapter 20**

There were some days when Sirius felt as if he was getting used to desk work. Not in that he was enjoying it anymore than he had, but at least he was accepting the fact that this was how it was going to be... which, if he thought about it, wasn't a particular good either.

When he looked back, he did not think he really knew how he had thought it was going to be. But not as it was.

Maybe part of him really had thought he was going to catch Peter within days of being at the ministry. Maybe part of him had thought that it was not going to be that hard.

But he hadn't and it was.

And, it also – well, when he was at work he found himself getting angrier about it all. He tried to keep it at work. He did not want to take the negativity home or get wound up there. Harry did not need to see it.

But then he did not think it was so much of a surprise that he was so angry about it. All day, every day, he was thinking about the man who had taken his best friend and brother from him. Only an unfeeling monster would remain calm.

Part of him wished he was not so emotionally involved some days but there was nothing he could do about that. The emotion he had felt made him the person he was.

After he had looked though _another_ set of parchments which he had known were going to be useless to him before he had even picked them up, he got up and headed over to the cafe. It had become a standard procedure for him to go there when he needed five minutes out. If Moody had noticed when Sirius went off, as he surely must have done, then he had been generous enough not to mention anything.

Sirius wondered how long that was going to go on for. He wondered how long until he said there was no case for looking into Peter anymore and that he had to go on to another case.

He was using Moody's resources and taking the ministry's pay check after all. He had to get some kind of result.

"Another bad day, Sirius?" Arthur Weasley asked him.

While he did not think Arthur was the sort of guy that he was ever going to go out for a pint with, Sirius' respect for Arthur had only grown in the time that her had known him.

Occasionally, they had had dinners together, either at the house or at the Burrow and Sirius had been very careful to watch him, just to see the way that he interacted with his sons. If there was a model father to learn from, the Sirius thought Arthur was pretty much it. He was not a disciplinarian by any standards but he made sure his lads grew up with the right set of morals, managing to walk a line it seemed to Sirius that few others did.

That was the sort of father he wanted to be to Harry.

"Not really - even before Azkaban I could never wait for a result as long as others could. Patience was never my first virtue, Arthur," He admitted.

"I beg to differ – the patience you have with Harry is immense."

"But that's different, isn't it? I can see the progress I have made with him. As for this ghost hunt, I feel as if I might not have come in for a single day for all the good I have done and it is doing my head in. I feel – I feel as if I am letting them all down," he sighed. Once more he felt the itch between his fingers for a cigarette.

"Good things come to those who wait. And while you are waiting you might as well have a bit of fun. I am going to take the boys to a Quidditch match next month. I was wondering if you wanted to tag along with us."

In the middle of everything else, Sirius realised he had not taken Harry to a single game since he had been back. What sort of godfather was he? When the lad had been a baby, he had planned on taking him to at least one game a month.

"Yeah – yeah, we'd love that. I've not had much of a chance to take him yet and I want him to learn. Thanks Arthur."

"My pleasure. He needs to enjoy this side of our world too, right? Besides, if you don't take him to a game where decent teams are playing soon, I fear with Ron as a friend, Harry will go over to the dark side," Sirius raised an eye brow. "The Chudley Cannons – us Weasley's have been supporting them for years. It's the orange on their uniform, you see? Matches our hair colour."

XXX

"Do you think the two of us should tell them that the tree will not take all four of them?" said Remus as he sat out on a rug with Molly. Winter was coming to an end and though it was still perhaps a little chilly, Harry, the homeschooled Weasley's, Molly and himself had gone out for lunch to the big field just behind the Burrow. The picnic which they had taken with them had been quickly devoured, for every second wasted eating was one in which they weren't playing.

The tree in reference was one around thirty feet away from them, an evergreen with strong roots. However, the thin branches were not as strong or long enough to take the weight four little lads. Every time the fourth tried to crawl on, it would shake and Ron, Harry and the twins all came back to earth with a bit of a bump.

Fred and George, in particular, had really enjoyed it seemed taking on the role of big brother to Harry. To be precise, they were relishing in it. Their mentoring was doing him the world of good and the skills he had so far gained from their wide experience included (obviously), tree climbing, catapult shooting and den making. It was a rare day when Harry did not go home with some new graze or bruise – he was, at last, a very normal little boy.

"That can't be fun," Remus commented as he took Ginny on his lap. He found himself having become quite attached to the Weasley children, who he was glad to say, he was becoming a bit of an uncle too. "You see the parent in me wants to stop them," he admitted to Molly.

And yet the moment that the four of hit the ground (again), they dissolved into giggles, brushed themselves down, got up, looked at the tree, and tried to devise some new tactic that would aid them.

"I've charmed the ground beneath the tree. Won't stop bruising of course, but it makes them feel as if they are landing on a mattress," Molly smiled relaxed.

"Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because you're not the mother of six sons. I've been through this all with Bill and Charlie remember," she said and a slightly troubled look came over her face. "I do feel for the two of them. They were really, I suppose, our 'starter kids' – I didn't really figured out to do charms such as that one until we had the twins, who naturally took everything to a new level. I struggled a lot more when Bill and Charlie were young."

Just as he and Sirius had too, Molly and Arthur had learnt to become the patents they were along the way. That was a comfort.

"Percy seemed quiet this morning," Remus commented as the four musketeers begun attempt six.

Molly nodded, a sadden expression over her face. "I love him, I love him lots, the same as I love all the others; but I do wish he could get on with his brothers better. His so bookish, quite unlike any of the others. And quiet. I try to make time for him, but that isn't easy. He will do when he gets to school I think, away from the twins. They do tend to pick on him a little."

When they had said they were going to go out for the picnic, he had chosen to stay inside and read. They were so close by that he could call from the house if he had needed anything. "He can't wait to get to Hogwarts, of course; I heard him saying so the other day. He was telling Scabbers."

"Scabbers?"

"His pet rat. Disgusting thing really, but sometimes it seems to me it is the only thing he take any joy in. I can't bear to take it away from him." she said. "He prefers it when the older two are home."

"Well, it can't be easy," Remus agreed as his eyes wondered over to the four little boys who were so close and the swept over the little girl who was eager to try and keep up with them, when she wasn't in need of an afternoon nap that was.

Cuddling her close, Remus sighed, unable to think anything except that he really had, at last, found where he was meant to be. There was not another place he'd rather be in the entire world at that moment.

A cheer went up making Ginny jump and his eyes once more went over to the tree where the four boys were now sitting triumphantly side by side.

"Moony – Look at us, we did –"

Thud.

XXX

The final class that day before Remus and Harry went home that day was art. Of course, it was not one that they were going to need when they got to Hogwarts but Remus saw the value in it none the less. Painting seemed to let them unless their creativity a little. Art seemed to be among Harry's favourite lessons though he was not much of a drawer. He just enjoyed looking at the way the colours appeared on the page, making up new ones... All of the children, even Percy, brightened up when they saw Molly reach to get the paints out for them. Invariably though, it end with Fred and George trying to get as much paint on one another as possible.

"Come on then mate, let's get you cleared up before we go home," Remus found himself telling Harry around four thirty. Sirius would be home between five and six, eager to take over with Harry, for which the werewolf was grateful for. He was convinced a day as an Auror would be a walk in the park compared with looking after a mischievous bunch of kids all day.

Squirting soap on to Harry's hands to wash the paint off, he helped Harry wash his hands, rubbing quickly as he did so making Harry laugh. It was then that something caught his eye.

"How did you do this one mate?" he asked seeing a little nip between Harry's fingers. When they had been in the flat it had been a lot easier to keep track of Harry's injuries.

"Scabbers bite me."

Molly was right; that rat was more trouble than it was worth.

XXX

"I have got a bit of exacting news for you tonight," said Sirius as he sat down at the dinner table with Harry and Remus. In an attempt from stopping Jamie from trying to get to their food, he too was eating his own dinner in the corner.

"What's that then?" asked Remus.

"When we were at work today, Arthur came to see me, said he was going to be taking the boys off to see a game of Quidditch soon. He asked if we wanted to go with him."

"Cool!" said Harry. One of the first things Ron and the others had explained to him when they had become friends was Quidditch.

"I take it you want to go then harry?"

"Yeah!"

The remainder of the evening was spent as most were; all of them walked Jamie, Sirius made a valiant attempt to get Harry into the bath and won (for that night at least), Harry and Remus played exploding snap over hot chocolate before Sirius settled the exhausted six year old into bed with a book; Quidditch Through The Adages was his choice that night.

Harry feel asleep with a smile on his face knowing tomorrow they were going to do it all again.

XXX

Although he had not made the connection between the lunar circle and his visits, full moon was one of Harry's favourite time of the month, and just because he had moved house and made friends, that was no different than to how it had been in his early days with Sirius and Remus.

Evenings with Severus were, if anything, more fun than they were to begin with.

As it was with anything, the more you did it, the better you got at it. Severus Snape certainly found this was the case when it came to the young boy. Looking after Harry was not only getting easier, it was also much more enjoyable. Tickling spells and giggling potions were wonderful aids he found.

The lad brought out tenderness in him, one which he had forgotten had existed. Rather than find he was annoyed by the boys incessant babble about his puppy and his friends, he found himself asking questions. As loath as he was to admit it, he was still agreeing with the decisions Sirius was making. Harry did need to be about people his own age.

And while part of him did think getting Harry a dog had been a little indulgent, it was going to teach the boy about responsibility, something he was in time not going to be able to get away from.

As for the Weasley's he had not thought a lot of them when they had met. They were loud and no doubt causing havoc where ever they went. It was hardly a surprise Harry had fallen in love with them...

Still, at least the boy still wanted to come to see him from time to time. As long as he still wanted to see him, then he could handle talking about the Weasley's.

"Sev?"

"Yes Harry?"

"You know when I come to school?"

"Yes."

"What house am I going to be in?"

"None of us know that. We are just going to have to wait for your sorting," he said as the two of them sat side by side on the sofa. "Which house would you like to be in?"

Harry looked thoughtful for a moment before he turned to him. "I _think_ I want to be in Gryffindor because that is where mummy, daddy, Remus and Sirius were when they were at school. And Ron and the twins are going to be Gryffindor's as well... All there big brothers are there – but," Harry paused. "I think when I come to school, I want to have you as my head of house."

Severus chuckled, touched. "Well, I do not think that is a very good reason to want to be in a house as kind as it is. You'll find your place here."

But the thing was, Hogwarts just seemed so far away from Harry's perspective. He just wanted to go to start school then and there...

"We are going to go to a Quidditch game tomorrow," he said changing the subject quickly as only children could .

"I know – are you looking forward to it?"

"Yeah, I think so. I think it is going to be a bit like when Uncle Vernon took Dudley to the football – but only...better."

"I am sure it will be."

_Please review!_

**_Author Note:_** Sorry about the relative shortness of this chapter. It is the last of the 'fillers' between the action which really once more gets going in the next chapter as we head towards the conclusion...


	22. Realisations

**Chapter 21**

"How many games have you been too?" asked Harry as he sat in the Burrow with the lads he was now growing up with it.

"Well, dad usually tries to take us once every six months or so. We can't go every time because... but we've been to a good few. I'm sure by the end of the year you will have caught up with us," said Ron to Harry. Sirius was determined of that.

Hopefully, Ron thought, he might even get to go to a few more with them. He was acutely aware of the fact that Harry and his family had a lot more money than they did. He didn't understand why it was they did not have a lot of money – all he knew was they didn't. But none of that mattered that day.

"Right boys, we have got to be off. You ready?" asked Sirius as he came round the corner.

"Sirius, why is Remus not coming?" asked Ron. The more time the werewolf had spent with the Weasley's, the more they had got too used to him being around and the odder it was for him not to be there.

"He just wasn't very well last night – he needs a bit of a rest."

Harry looked deep in though. Remus had been unwell last month as well.

"Remus never seems to be very well when I get back from being with Severus," Harry realised.

Sirius wanted to say something like it was a coincidence. But when he learned the truth, which he was going to in time, Harry would remember that he had been lied to. He was never going to lie to him.

"Yes, he does seem to be, doesn't he? But that is a conversation for another day. Right now, we have to get to the game and when we are there, I want you to stay with me – stay very close. It is going to be busy."

Sirius remembered a time not so very long ago when he would not even be able to consider taking Harry into a big crowd. But that was long before he had got used to having a godfather who loved him and brother like he could turn too.

He was ready for this now.

For the first time that day, Harry was also going to be using a port key. He was used to apparating from going to seeing Severus, but due to the fact that so many of them were travelling that day, it had seemed to make sense to go by port key.

Molly waved them off from the front door; she was clearly looking forward to a relatively quiet day. God only knew she deserved some quiet. In the end, the match goers were Sirius, Harry, the twins, Ron and Arthur. For some reason he did not know, Percy did not seem to be even trying to warm up to him and Harry. Molly did not want Ginny going with them when she was still so young. Ted Tonks would met them at the game and so it was a real lad's day out.

Even though Sirius had told Harry it was going to be busy, he thought when they got there that even he had forgotten just how busy Quidditch matches got. Or perhaps it was because he had the added responsibility of a child now. The last time he had been he had been a young man of twenty and he had gone with his friends. He had been with James. And quite frankly it would have been rather funny if he had lost him.

But if he were to lose Harry when he were there... well, he did not even like to think about it for fear of how far it could set him back depending on what happened. It was far better that he just kept him close.

Arthur had enough on his plate with the boys - especially when then twins were going with them. The two of them were a handful all on their own. Between them though, they would look after the kids well enough.

"Right, I am going to go and get the butterbeers and pasties in for us!" said Ted as they made their way towards the stands.

"Ok, we will wait over there until you've got them," said Sirius, pointing to a clear space just away from the queue. Ted nodded and together, Sirius and Arthur ushered the four boys with them over to the clearing.

"So who do we think are going to win today! The Kestrals or the Harpies?"

"The Harpies!" Ron and the twins replied without even having to think about it – Harry could only assume they were the better team by the behaviour of the others who knew so much more about it that he did, so he just followed their lead.

"Yeah, the Kestrels smell of dog poopie," Ron announced.

"Well, I guess that is one way to put it," said Sirius with a shrug.

The debate was rather one siding as they stood there together as the twins and Ron continued to explain why the Harpies were so much better. Arthur and Sirius gave one another what could now be well and truly called a knowing look.

They had been standing there at least a couple of minutes when Sirius saw Arthur expression change. It was one of concern.

"Now, he does not look as if he has any one with him does he?"

Sirius turned to see a boy who could not be a lot older or a lot younger than Harry looking about.

"Do we think he has got lost?" the two of them had drawn the same conclusion.

"I think he is," said Arthur and then he went over to the lad. As a parent he knew how scared one of his own kids would be if it happened to them. He would want someone to lend them a hand until he got to them. "You lost your mum and dad, little one?"

"No, I have not. Stay away from me."

From that very moment, Sirius took against the lad. There had been no need what so ever to talk to Arthur like that when he had been trying to be kind. He knew he had to be freaked out a bit as he clearly had lost his mother and his father but he should keep a civil tongue in his head.

"There is no need for that lad," he said to him as he put a hand on Harry's shoulder. The young boy had clearly got the twins and Ron's back up as well.

"Well, I did not ask for your help, did I?"

There was something familiar about this lad that made Sirius dislike him even more. For a while, he did not think he was going to be able to put his finger on it – in fact, he would rather it stayed that way. But then it became only too clear to him why he was familiar.

This boy was part of his family.

The cool grey eyes and blonde hair were nothing to do with the Blacks – but the way he spoke... Everything about him told him this was Cissy's boy. This_ had _to be Narcissa son. She had sent him an owl when the boy had been born– he had been cast out but no doubt when she had given the Malfoy's an heir, she had wanted to tell even those who had been disowned by their family that she was the perfect wife.

This was exactly the sort of lad he had wanted to keep away from Harry and suddenly, he had no idea why he had thought it was going to be a good idea to bring him to a Quidditch match.

What a stupid idea that had been.

It was only then he realised he had been looking at Harry as he held on to him – and it did not take long for the vile little brat in front of him to work out why. He knew this was Harry Potter.

Even though he as a rule loved kids, he had never had a lot of interest in his cousins son. Now he knew why.

Harry turned to him for help. He knew the lad was going to say something to him – something mean and spiteful – but at that moment, confirmation about what Sirius suspected came.

"Oh thank god," He heard a voice say as for the first time since he had left Hogwarts, he set eyes on his cousin.

The years had been kind to Narcissa. She retained her long blonde hair, her smooth skin and her slender figure despite childbirth and motherhood. And it seemed to him that she had got a lot softer. He did not want to credit that to the little lad, who was clearly just horrible.

But it was the only thing he way he could explain it. "Why did you run off?"

"I did not, mama," Sirius heard the tone in his voice change instantly. He was at once more respectful. "I just turned about and you are papa were gone."

Narcissa sighed as she kissed her sons forehead drinking him in.

"Thank you," she said as she rose. She was a lot more polite than her son was Sirius noted.

But then that was before she knew who it was she had been saying thank you too.

As she saw him, she was clearly shocked. Just as the rest of the world knew he had been realised so did she, she had to have known too. But she had made no acknowledgement of it.

Until now; when she had too.

"Sirius," she had no idea what else she was meant to say.

The fact he had got out of jail had had no effect on her or her life. Why should it? The two of them had never got on. But ... they had grown up together.

"You want to hold on to your boy a bit closer, Cissy."

"They run off at every chance that they get. You must know that now you're playing daddy full time," She said as she eyed Harry Potter.

"Talking of daddy's, are you still playing the trophy wife to your beloved?" he asked.

This time it was Narcissa who pulled her boy closer to her.

"Not in front of the boys," Arthur interjected before it went any further.

"Come on Draco's - why don't we go and find daddy? He'll be worried," said Narcissa to her son turning away from her cousin before glancing back.

In spite of the argument they had nearly just got into, she looked as if she was trying to saying something else. Something which was not a comeback but a –

"Mother?"

"I am coming, darling," she said as she turned for a final time.

XXX

"It was as if she wanted – well, I dunno but I do not think she wanted to go," said Sirius once they got back to Andromeda's.

The game had gone well but he did not think he had focused on it as much as he had wanted to when they were on the way... because he had kept thinking about Narcissa. The two of them were never going to have a huge effect on one another's lives. But they were always going to be related.

"Well, she went didn't she? It is not as if she does not have a choice," sighed her sister.

It had been a long time since Andromeda Tonks had had any sympathy for her sister. She had dreamt when the two of them had been younger that they might grow back together. That Narcissa would see that she had been a fool when she had fallen in love with – that _thing _– that odious man.

That she would see there was another way. But she had not.

"Do you know the thing that annoys me most about her?" Andromeda asked. "It is that it seems to me there is just _nothing_ to her. She does as she is told and she lets the world past her by. I do not think she even believes in pure blood mania that strongly. She just does not have the passion in her to break away from it all."

"But she does believe it."

"Oh, yes, she does – but you can't say it was on the same scale as Bellatrix. Not that her passion was put to good use. But, do you understand what I am saying? I just do not know what she wants and what she believes in. Not really..."

Sirius looked on her with pity. She knew she was not acting the way she wanted people to perceive her - as if she did not care about her sister. But she did. She wanted her back. She had not grown up on her own and she did not wish to be without them.

She had been so _used_ to having sisters.

Deep down, it like him and Reg – he hated him for what he had done and what he had been. But he knew deep down, in his heart of hearts, he still had a lot of love for his kid brother.

If he could have made it so they could be together as real brothers, as he had been with James, then there was not a lot he wouldn't have done. But now – there was no chance of that.

"She is not a little girl any more. She makes her own choices for herself and her son, who is by the way a horrible little sh-"

"Not in front of the little ones please, Sirius." Arthur muttered.

"That is my nephew – the one I know nothing about!" Andy sighed as she picked up the tray she had brought the tea through on. Footsteps followed her. "Why is it Sirius, that asides from me, you, Ted, Dora, Harry and Remus our family is so buggared up?"

Sirius shrugged. "If you think about it, that is our family in its entirety now. So perhaps it is not so messed up at all."

It was not the answer she had expected and nor one she really wanted. What she wanted was a reason. Yet, there was no way to wave a magic wand and make them all get along, to get Narcissa away from Lucius, to give Bella actual morals and to bring back Reg from the dead.

She looked at him and sighed. Crossing the room, he took her in his arms. "When you think about it, it was only ever really been me and you against the lot of them, kiddo."

She nodded, turned and wiped her eyes. "So did Harry enjoy the game?"

"Yeah, I think that he did... Sat between me and Fred. You know, if I am glad I have done one thing, it is involve the Weasley's in all this. You were right; those lads are just what Harry needs. He has brothers in arms now, just as I had in James."

"Well, I am glad."

"Me too."

XXX

Remus had been relaxing on his own when he heard the knock on the door. He had not anticipated being interrupted that day but that did not mean he was not glad to be.

Suddenly, he was not a very solitary being.

Getting up of the sofa he went to open the door. It was probably a good thing that someone had called. He was going to be heading over to Molly and Arthur's in a while. He had not wanted to go to the Quidditch game that day as he had thought it was going to be a bit much, but he would be having dinner with the others.

"Ahh, Severus, to what do I owe the honour?" asked Remus as he clapped eyes on the potions master, in a much more cordial way than he might have before hand. The respect between Severus and the marauders was formal, but it was present in a way it had never been before.

"Dumbledore sent me... but I wanted to come, I need to talk to you Lupin. I –" Severus swallowed his pride. "I need you to do me a favour Lupin. It might be beneficial to us both."

Remus nodded. "Why don't I call, Sirius?" he said moving to the fire. "He can come back if this is about Harry before we go to dinner with the Weasley's."

Did he not listen? "This is nothing to do with Sirius or Harry."

"Well, in that case, you had better come in – let me get you a tea," said Remus well and truly surprised. Severus followed him into the kitchen. "I hope Harry was good for you last night," said Remus not that he had a lot of doubts over that.

"As ever, he conducted himself very well," Severus replied as he was greeted by Jamie with a low growl.

"Get out of it Jai," Remus said to him. "Sorry. We're still house training him, just ignore him when he does that," Remus explained.

"Trust me, I will," Severus drawled as he sat down at tone of the free kitchen chairs.

"So if this is not about Harry, then what is it about?"

"A new potion I am working on at the moment; Wolfsbane."

By the end of the conversation, Severus had given Remus a lot to think about. It had been a long time since he had hoped for anything so – so evolutionary. It would change every full moon. Of course, it was not going to stop the change from hurting or prevent it; but to be him his own mind when he_ had _changed...

That was more than he had dreamt of. It meant he was going to be a lot more like Sirius in Animagus form. He was not just going to be a wolf... he would be tame. The wildness would leave him as long as he had the potion. It was not without risks. This had never been gone before.

But it had to be worth a go. Like it or not, Severus had done a lot for him already. The way that he had been with Harry, the help he had given them...

"There is no guarantees this is going to work, Lupin."

"No, but I would like to give it try none the less."

There would have been a time when he did not think he would have been willing to try just because it was Snape - but Severus was not going to hurt him because he did not want to hurt Harry. He trusted him due to his love for Harry.

"Thank you."

If Remus had said 'no' then he would have gone on the hunt for a werewolf – something he had not relished. As a rule, they were not all like Remus. They did not want to raise kids and be part of society. They could be vicious. The bond between them, Harry, ensured this was something Severus did not have to worry about with Remus, who had ever fought against who he was.

It was with the promise that the werewolf was going to let him essentially experiment on him which the potions master went back to Hogwarts with – and for that he was grateful. If he had had a choice in what he had wanted to be, then he would not be at Hogwarts as Potions master. He would have chosen to work with potions; but not as a teacher... if only he had had a choice...

But as it was, Hogwarts was not a bad place to live. Even he felt something in his heart when he saw the castle illuminated at night... even after all this time.

He apparated to Hogsmeade and then walked up to the school, making his way down to the dungeons. It was going to be dinner time soon. He would quickly mark a few roles of parchment before he went up to the Great Hall.

Walking into his apartments, he threw off his travelling cloak and was about to make his way to the office when something caught his eye.

Harry's jacket.

He was extremely annoyed, instantly, that he had not seen it earlier that day. Had he, then he would have taken it back to the house with him when he had gone to see Remus. He'd just take it back another day now...

But then what if he needed it that night? Surely, they would have even needed it that day when they had been at the match... it was warming up...but still it got cold at night.

Severus did not want Harry be cold or get sick. When he had turned into such a softy, he did not know, but he turned around and put his clock back on.

He'd have to go to the Burrow now.

XXX

Once that the Quidditch goers had met up with Andy and had a quick drink to refresh themselves at her house, they made their way over to the Burrow. Sirius only wished that little Dora had been home that day. He had had a good day, but his spunky little cousin's presence would have made it almost perfect he mused as he walked over to the house with Andy, Ted as well as Arthur.

Harry run ahead with the other lads.

"Did you see how he was when I offered to get him a drink today, Sirius?" said Andy proudly. "He told me what he wanted and then he told me all about the game. I think at long last he is beginning to realise I am not a wicked witch!"

"And you know that is because he met Cissy today. Now he knows what a real wicked witch looks like," teased Sirius. "No, he was always going to warm up to you in the end. Just takes Harry a little while longer than most kids, is all."

All in all, it had not been a bad day for Sirius Black, he guessed. But an interesting one. It was a lot like any, he guessed, full of contradictions. He knew the decisions Narcissa had made were ones she had made for herself from her own set of beliefs. But he wished they were different still.

As they got nearer to the Burrow, he saw Ginny come running out to met the lads, yet for a second she seem to split into three as the twins, Ron and Harry merged into two little lads...

Just for a moment, he saw the five Black cousins, the way they should have been.

He blinked.

Still, if the future did not improve on the past then there was no hope for any of them was there?

By the time they got there, Remus had already arrived and was animated in conversation with Molly Weasley, 'his new best friend', as Sirius had teased him just a few nights before. Harry got a hug off Remus as the werewolf took a beer from Molly. They would all enjoy a cottage pie before retiring to the front room to watch the newest talent show that Ginny had roped the boys into.

"Right kids, come on, to the table," Molly called to the hungry little troopers at last. It had been a long day and it seemed as if the pasties which they had got at the game had been a long time ago now.

The children were going to eat first – and then the adults. Just as Harry got to the table, a knock was heard from outside the door and Andromeda went to get it.

"Severus?"

"He keeps popping up today," Remus said to Sirius where the stood across the room, so quietly only he could hear it. "We need to talk when we get back tonight."

"Why, don't I like the sound of that?"

"No, it's nothing bad." He said reassuringly.

"Percy, will you please come downstairs?" Molly yelled up the stairs as the potions master came in.

"I found this on my return to my apartment," he said showing Harry's jacket to Sirius. "I did not know how soon he was going to need it, so I thought it best to bring it straight back."

"Ahh, thank you. We wondered where that got to, didn't we mate?" he said as he gave Harry a wink.

"Yeah, Thanks uncle sev," Harry added without needing prompting. Getting up, from where he had sat between George and Ron, he went over to Severus and cuddled him.

As much as the potions master was careful not to show too much affection, it was clear his young charge had no such scruples. "And did you have a good time at the game today?"

"It was so much fun, I want to go again! But we saw a funny lady there who Sirius did not like very much," he said as he turned to the elder marauder.

"Narcissa." Sirius said in a one world explanation.

Severus nodded, and bent down to kiss Harry on the forehead goodbye. He always did so and if he did not then he knew Harry was going to be confused.

"I'll see you in a few weeks."

"Do you have to go?"

"I am afraid so. You need to eat your dinner and so do I."

It was then that Percy came into the room. "Daddy, I don't think Scabbers is very well!"

The squealing rat bit the boy, yet Percy's grip remained firmed until Arthur took him in his hands.

"Arthur, I think you need to get the kids out of here," Remus breathed, fiercely aware of the suddenly murderous Sirius at his side.

Silence fell.

"What's going on?" Harry said as he looked up at his godfather.

Only Harry could have brought him back to earth then. With a shaking hand, Sirius smoothed down Harry's hair.

"Do as Moony say. Andy, please, take him back to yours."

His cousin nodded, understanding something much bigger was going on here.

Molly wore a look of confusion. "But the children are just about to sit down to dinner."

"Molly," Andy said as she got up. "I'll get pizzas in."

"I know but-"

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Sirius roared at last. "GIVE THE RAT TO SNAPE, ARTHUR, JUST DO IT! DO IT!"

Maybe it was his stance; maybe it was the tone of his voice; maybe it was a combination of the two, but it was not long until what Sirius' order had been followed. Only Remus and Severus remained, two wizards who could account for themselves. Two men who had seen torture and murder before.

As the kids left, Percy and Harry's faces were the last faces he saw. Percy was in floods of tears and crying he did not want to leave his pet, while Harry had never seen his godfather in such a rage. He had never wanted to.

Finally, Peter Pettigrew was left alone in the Burrow with his two old friends and his arch enemy. He had taken the lives of James and Lily Potter. Now his would be taken from him.

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	23. Unwelcomed Reunions

**Chapter 22**

It took a long time to settle most of the kids down that evening. Andy, Ted, Arthur and Molly had no idea what was going on and could tell them very little. It was obvious the children were scared, Harry the most.

He had never been left with any of them on his own before. The three wizards who he trusted most in the world had strayed behind at the Burrow giving him no explanation as to why he had to go.

"Sirius got really mad, really fast," said Harry as he sat perched on Ted's lap.

"I know sweetheart, but you know it was nothing to do with you don't you?" Andromeda said from across the table. The Weasley boys had in the end gone up to sleep in Dora's room, but Andy had not wanted to send Harry off when he was so confused. Besides Molly and Arthur were there to deal with their sons; Harry had no one he was used too.

"I did not like it."

"I know you didn't, poppet," she sighed sympathetically taking his hand gently.

"Is Padfoot going to come soon?"

With all her heart Andromeda wanted to say yes. But the truthful answer was that she didn't know. Her eyes crossed to her husband for direction.

He could give her none. So she had nothing but the truth to fall back on.

"I don't know darling."

XXX

As Peter transformed back into a man (a snivelling, cowardly one) for the first time in years, the tension in the room was palpable.

For so long... for so long Sirius had wanted to come face to face with him. He knew even if he did confront him over what he had done he was not going to be able to bring James and Lily back for his godson. And he was not going to get the answers to satisfy himself for there were no answers for what he had done... there was nothing Peter could tell him that was going to make him understand.

Nothing.

The only reason he had so longed to see him one last time was so he could kill him. And that was what he was going to do.

The years had not been kind to Peter. Animagus could make the change permanent if they wished to but the fact remained that they had been born into human skin and they were meant to be human.

Peter had not been a handsome lad even when they had been young - he had never fit the stereotype of what a marauder was meant to be. The more he looked back, the more Sirius wondered why he, Remus and James had taken pity on him.

Yet at the time, they had been the best people to hide behind, they had been so very popular. If he latched himself on to the marauders then he was never going to be bullied – and he was never going to have to want for a champion or defence when things went wrong.

Once upon a time, long, long ago, a boy named Sirius Black had loved a boy called Peter Pettigrew as any boy would love his natural brother. But no more.

The man with sunken cheeks and eyes before him was not his brother and he was never going to be – he had made that mistake when he had been a child but he was a man now. A man with a child to defend.

"Looking a little worried Peter – I wonder why that should be," begun Remus a lot more kindly than Sirius would have.

As for the animagus himself he was staring at the rat intently, pointing his wand at him. He did not know if he wanted to hear him plead for his life or not. There was going to be some sort of grim satisfaction in it, he supposed.

"Remus, Sirius – my old friends!" exclaimed Peter – at once Sirius felt his blood boil. How dare he say they were friends - he did not even know the man before him... he never had really.

"We are not friends – the two of us were never friends," Remus exclaimed with a passion that Sirius had not expected from him.

"Of course, we were friends. We grew up together all of us!" he said as he ignored Severus the way that they might have when they were young. Snivillus had been nothing but a figure of ridicule to the magic circle of marauders.

"No," Sirius said and Remus did not think her had ever heard his voice so dangerously low. If he had, then he had forgotten which he wouldn't have. It _was _unforgettable. "Me, James and Remus. We were the ones who grew up together. You were simply there, always in the way, always holding us back. We were just too polite to say it."

Even as he said the words, he knew they were a lie and he was only giving Peter justification for what he had done. But he wanted to deny that he had ever seen the snivingly man on the floor as a friend.

"James never saw me that way and nothing you can say can convince me otherwise Sirius," Peter addressed him with tears in his eyes.

They had to be for himself, for he did not think Peter would ever waste them on the friendship he had never valued.

"Surely that only makes what you did to him, and to Lily worse. Or have you not noticed that you robbed a baby boy of his parents? That baby is six now – and he has had to live without them his entire life – a miserable life," spat Sirius.

Why was he talking to him? Why? Why? He had to get it done with – over.

He did not want him in Azkaban. It was too good for him. Besides, he had been there and he had got out. He had to make sure there was no coming back for Peter for Harry's sake.

Severus could only look on in his own rage, his own contempt. He did not think part of him was ever going to be able to stop blaming James for Lily's death, for their marriage had been part of it. Had she married another man and had another child then she would have loved to a ripe old age. If only she had lived...

But the main catalyst of her death – the death of the love of his life was before him right then. And what was his life worth? If he died then who was going to be there crying for him? No one. No one was ever going to stand at his grave side and cry as he had at Lily's. No, the truth was that Peter Pettigrew was nothing more or less than a waste of oxygen.

It was then that there was a smash. It took him a minute to register that Remus had been the one to hit the first blow at Peter that night.

How odd – Severus would have laid money on it being Sirius.

"You bastard – you bite him! You bite him!" Remus knew when he thought about it, it was odd that had been the thing to push him over the edge. He had hurt Harry, true, but it had not even been bad enough for him to come running to him for a cuddle. He had looked at it when they had got home that day and it was fine once washed...

But he had already killed Lily and James - and then to bite their son...

He had done it no doubt so the boy would not grow too fond of him and draw attention to the fact he had been under their noses for so long.

Peter had always been dim, mused Remus. He should have known they were always going to find him in the end. He had been able to run but he was not able to hide any more.

"Yes," he admitted.

Just when Severus, Sirius and Remus had thought they were as angry with Peter as they were ever likely to be, it went up another notch.

"Why? Just tell us why?" said Sirius as he went back to the original issue. As much as he loved Harry with all his heart, he knew now he had Peter within his grasp he was never going to be able to bring harm to the boy again. No, he was more concerned with what he had done to James. For the rest of his life he was going to be coming to terms that when the man he had loved like a brother had needed him the most, he hadn't been there. "If it had been the other way around, then James would never have even considered selling you out."

"You have no idea of the weapons which the Dark Lord possessed Sirius! If I had not done as he had asked then he would have killed me, I know he would have. What would you have done? If you had been in the position I was put in," whimpered Pettigrew.

"Died! I would have died before I betrayed James." Sirius said in a dangerous growl.

Peter looked at him as if he was just confused. As if he didn't know what he was on about; as if he had been speaking a foreign language.

And he guessed in Peter's mind he had. He had been speaking the language of friendship and love, the language of loyalty.

These were tongues that a man like Pettigrew could never hope to learn. And for just a moment, pity stayed his hand. He truly pitied Pettigrew. That he was never going to understand the bonds which he had been tied to James by, the bonds which joined Harry and Remus to him.

And then he remembered why they were there and what he had done. "I wish you had died then, for James was an infinitely better person than you, a better man than you could be in one hundred years; and I am not saying that as his friend but as a human being. It kills me that he never had a chance to do good in the world. And you didn't just kill James and Lily. You killed all the other little godchildren me and Remus might have gained, Harry's little brothers and sisters. It kills me that I'll never know their names! You stole all the Christmas and birthday presents they would have picked for them, every joke they might have shared and tears which they might have wiped off of his cheeks."

The list was endless. When Sirius thought of what Harry would have had had he been raised by his mother and his father.

He would love the boy until his dying day. But he was never going to be able to replace the lad's parents – not entirely.

Enough of this. He had not looked for Peter for so long so that he was going to be able to make him feel guilty. He had looked for him so that he could ensure that he was not going to be able to feel at all.

"Together?" he asked Severus and Remus.

It was then, just as Sirius became a hairs breadth way from the revenge he had waited so long to exact that they door opened.

"Sirius, you cannot do this. If you do then it is not only his life that you are forfeiting," Andromeda said as she walked into the Burrow once more – with Dumbledore behind her.

It had been when she had been holding Harry thinking of the consequence of the night she had known she had to go back and save Sirius from himself. She had thought about what he had told her, what had happened and she had put the pieces of the puzzle together. She knew it was Pettigrew.

She also knew there were plenty of men alive in the world who had a lot worse tempers than Sirius did. But when it came to Peter she did not think she knew what he was capable of. If she was right, then neither did he.

He had to stay calm.

As hard as she truly knew it was, it really was what he _had _to do. If not for his own sake then for the boy's. If he was found to have killed Peter (a killing which the ministry had certainly not ordered) then the only place he was going was back to jail.

And if he went there then she could not say for sure that Harry was not going to go back to his aunt and uncles. If that was the case, then she did not think the sweet boy was going to survive it this time – for he had seen and glimpse and tasted and felt and lived another life.

A life where he was loved.

And so she had made a choice she did not think her cousin was going to like and she had rushed to contact the headmaster, praying he was going to be in his office when she flu called. For once her prays had been answered.

As soon as she had explained what was going on he had come to her. And then they had both come to the Burrow.

Remus looked to her as did Severus. Asides from Harry, she knew these were the three men whose lives had been destroyed by Peters' actions. She did not know why in the case of Severus Snape but she knew from the venom in his eyes this had to be personal.

"He has to die for what he did," Sirius told her but the fact that he had replied to her was a good thing she told herself.

"I know why you feel that – god, if I were you then I would feel the same. But this is not the answer."

She said to him and she knew that was the message she had to put across. "If you do this you are going back to Azkaban – I will not lie for you. And then Harry will go back to his aunt and uncles – and I will do everything in my power to make sure you never see his face again. If your hate for Peter outweighs your love for Harry then you do not deserve him and you never did. If you choose Peter, James should never have chosen you as godfather."

"Shut up Andy!" Sirius said as his hand begun to shake.

"I can't – not until you see sense and save your and Harry's life all over again!"

"He has to die!"

"No, Sirius," Dumbledore finally spoke. "No one here has to die."

He looked at them, "If I do not kill him then Lily and James are never going to be at peace."

"If Harry is taken away from you once more then they are never going to be at peace. And neither will you," Andy said as she looked at him with pity in her eyes. She knew how tormented he was by the decisions he had to make. But he had to make it for the better. "Can you really let Harry be taken from you again? Let it go and come home with me. Live for the living Sirius, not the dead. Harry is scared – he needs you. Not me, not Ted and not even Remus. You."

She knew she was making real progress. "I can't let him go free."

"No – on that the two of us agreed," said Dumbledore as he looked at Peter.

He did not think anyone there was proposing that. It had been a long time since he had felt such hate for another human. What Peter had done was beyond forgiveness. There was never going to be a way back for him.

"Please, professor. You always said help was given to those who ask for it!" the rat squealed.

"Then what I should have said is that help will always be given to those who deserve it – and in my judgement, which has been said to be rather good, you do not." Dumbledore curtly dismissed the animagus who stood still at the end of three wands. "There is another way Sirius – let me take him to the ministry."

"Azkaban isn't a bad enough punishment –" said Sirius as his mind went into over drive. "If – and I mean _if_ - we decided to hand him over, then I want him to be kissed."

"Sirius," Peter turned to him. "Mercy, please mercy."

"Give me your word, professor. Nothing less than the Dementors kiss."

"I shall talk to the authorities after his guilt has been confirmed, which it will be; I am sure that I could persuade them to perform it."

Sirius shook as he held his wand – Andromeda suddenly felt rather certain he was changing his mind. Sirius was no longer a marauder or a prisoner first – he was a father. He had to be there for his boy.

"What say you Remus?"

"I hate him – and I hate what he did and I want him to die. But they are speaking sense, I can see it – and my love for the life we are living outweighs the hate I have for him. Listen to what they are saying – let me and you go home. Padfoot, if you go back to Azkaban then he has won once again," Remus reasoned as he felt his throat go tight. "James would want us to go home to Harry."

"I know he would." he said as he turned one last time to Dumbledore. "Nothing less than the kiss – and I get to see it performed."

"It is said to be unbearable to witness," Severus Snape muttered from the other side of Remus where he too had been pointing his wand at Pettigrew.

"I've been Azkaban. I'm sure I'll cope. Dumbledore?"

"You have my word."

Sirius took one long last intense look at Peter – he was in no way worth giving up Harry for.

"Please Sirius," Peter had clearly decided pleading was worth once last shot.

"Never. Enjoy hell Peter. I once heard the deepest circle was reserved for traitors... my god I hope it's true."

Lowering his wand, Sirius could not decide if he felt more or less at peace with himself. But that didn't matter.

"Where is my godson?" he asked.

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	24. The Power of Truth

**Chapter 23**

Harry lay under the covers in a strange and unfamiliar bed. He was not crying, but he was not happy. He felt almost as if – well, he didn't know.

He wished he was clever enough to put what he was feeling into words. He did not understand why his beloved godfather would get as angry as he had. It was not like the event had morphed him into uncle Vernon in his head – Sirius could never be compared to his aunt's husband.

But suddenly Harry saw there were sides of Sirius Black he had not seen yet and did not understand.

Due to the fact that he had ever been so kind and gentle when they had been together, he had not realised that he even _could_ get that mad. He knew Sirius had got sad – but then all he needed to do was give him a cuddle and he would smile again.

He didn't like him getting mad.

Unable to settle into the strange mattress, he got up and went back down the stairs. He did not know Ted as well as he knew the others, but he had said to come back down if he had too much trouble getting to sleep.

He found the patriarch of the Tonks family in his favourite arm chair with a tea by his side, clock watching. Instinctively, he knew he was not going to be heading to bed until Andromeda returned.

"Couldn't sleep hey buddy?" the man said kindly as he saw him. In truth, Ted had not expected Harry to stay in bed as long as he had.

Harry shook his head. "Is Sirius not back yet?"

"No – not yet, mate."

"He is going to come back, isn't he?"

"Of course he is! You know how very much he loves you – there is nothing in the world which he would leave you for."

Ted put his arms out for him and took him in his arms the way that he would with his own child. He was so glad he had been brought into his life for he had become a surrogate uncle to Harry and he thought the world of him.

"Why don't you stay here with me while we wait for Sirius to come back, hey?"

He nodded and relaxed back into him – then all the two of them could do was wait.

As he held on to him and occasionally gave him a squeeze for reassurance, Ted could not help but think he had never seen a child keep so still.

It was as if Harry though if he moved then Sirius was never going to come back to him.

Finally – after what seemed years of waiting – the door opened.

"Where is he?" the deep voice of Sirius Black asked.

XXX

Remus had to admit his surprise that Sirius had given up the chance to kill Peter to himself as they arrived back at the Tonk's. There had been a moment when he had thought he was really going to go through with it. There had been a moment when he had been more than willing to help him go through with it.

He did not think the two of them were ever going to be able to adequately thank Andromeda for what she had done when she had ultimately saved them from themselves – saved them from nearly ruining the life the two of them had had to work so hard to build.

He flashed back to the night when he had first taken Sirius back to the flat from Azkaban. In truth, it seemed a life time ago now.

He did know if his best friend was just going to scare the lad more as he was then – but he knew Sirius. And he was not going to be put off from seeing Harry that night. And if he knew his little nephew, then he knew he was not going to settle until he had seen his godfather. The fact Sirius was in a desperate mood could not be avoided.

Together, with Andromeda, they walked through to the living room where they found Ted with Harry on his lap, trying to comfort the boy.

He was not doing a bad job either, considering what a nervous little thing he was.

"On thank god," Sirius said as he took Harry from Ted's on sight. Remus wondered if he had been a little too forceful initially, the way he scooped Harry up in his arms. But then, he could put that down to the affect of seeing Peter that night. Sirius had been scared shitless in truth when Andy had said he might lose Harry.

They both had.

As soon as he had his child in his arms, Sirius seemed to settle immediately. He seemed to grow gentler, more like the man he had been since he had got out of prison.

As he pulled back, Sirius ran a hand over Harry's head, trying to flatten out his jet black hair. "Are you ok, pup? You're not hurt?"

Even as he said the words, Sirius knew they were utterly irrational and Peter had got nowhere near him. Due to the fact that Harry had been spirited out of there so fast the rat had not had the chance to hurt him – and he was never going to have the chance again now. But Sirius felt as if he had had to check.

"I'm fine," said Harry as he nestled back into Sirius, hiding his face in his godfather's neck. He looked up when Remus came over to the two of them to give him a kiss on the head.

"You're ok buddy – we are all going to be ok," said Remus to him with an encouraging nod.

Nothing was going to be able to stop the three of them now.…

"What happened? Why did you get so mad so fast?" Harry asked Sirius quietly as he held on to him.

Looking back on the way he had reacted when he had put the pieces of the puzzle together at last, Sirius did not think he could be proud of the way he had responded. No one knew better than he did what a sensitive little mite his godson was. Even when he was angry, he should remember that. Even though he had not been angry at him he had been affected by it.

He swore that day that he was never going to scare Harry like that again, for even though the boy would never say it, he knew he had scared him.

But Sirius also knew he could have reacted no differently. Having your best friends murderer turn up like that – how else was he meant to react?

"It is a very long story – one I do not think that you are going to fully be able to understand until you are a lot older... but... Harry, you remember I told you there were some wizards in our world who were not like Remus and myself? Bad wizards?" Sirius questioned.

Harry nodded as Sirius carried him over to the sofa and settled him on his lap, without releasing him from his warm embrace. "Yeah."

"Well... you see it goes back further than that. Did I ever tell you what an Animagus was?" Remus's eyes approvingly met his own. It was time. Harry had to know now.

The boy shook his head. "Well, then I was an idiot and I should have – I know you are very clever, brave boy and I was stupid not to trust you to understand."

"You're not stupid," Harry protested weakly as his small had comfortingly found Sirius cheek. It was cool and tender.

Sirius kissed his forehead. "I am glad you don't think I am stupid but you have to hear me out before making a judgment this time buddy. You see what an Animagus is, is a wizard who can turn into an animal. Pretty cool, right?"

"Right."

"Shall I let you in on a little secret not many people know?"

"What?"

"Your daddy was an Animagus – and so am I."

Harry looked as if it was a bit too much to take in for a minute before he turned to Sirius and asked the obvious question. "What can you turn into?"

"A big black dog – and your dad could turn into a stag..." said Sirius with a smile, remembering the hard days and nights he had to spend studying to become an Animagi. "But your father and I did not learn alone – there was another boy."

"Moony?" guessed Harry.

"Well yes... and no."

"That is a tale for another night Harry." the werewolf pitched in. "Right now, the boy Sirius is referring to is Peter Pettigrew. He was at school with us and we believed him to be our friend."

"But he wasn't?"

"No... Not really. He just pretended."

Sirius mouth went dry. Remus could only think how much admiration he had for his friend even getting that far. The two of them had hoped that years were going to pass before they had to get into the darker side of the past.

But it was not to be.

"Harry, do you remember that night back at the flat when I told you about the bad man – Voldemort – who was the reason mummy and daddy died?" Remus said and heard Ted and Andy gasp behind him. He knew they were meant to say that named. He was meant to fear him, wasn't he? But there were precious few things Voldemort could do to him now that he had not already done before. Lily and James's death in some ways, had released him of that fear. As Harry nodded Remus continued, "Well, the man who we thought was our friend – Peter - he helped lead Voldemort to your mother and your father. He was a traitor to us – and his Animagus form was a rat."

Silence feel over the room and Andromeda turned to see that at some point Molly and Arthur had come down the stairs. They must have heard them return. She hoped that they had been there long enough to understand what had taken place, which from the look on their faces they had.

"He was Percy's rat, wasn't he? That was why he bit me. That was why you got so mad so fast?" Harry asked and Sirius nodded. It made him feel sick to think he had been sending Harry to the same place Peter had been for weeks on end daily.

It had not been intentional, needless to say.

"That is pretty much the size of it pup." Sirius nodded. "And I am sorry I got so mad. That wasn't fair and was wrong of me. I didn't mean to upset you."

Harry was about to tell him that he hadn't and shrug it off. But when he was so close to Sirius he couldn't lie to him. He knew beyond doubt that Sirius would know he was being lied too.

"What's gonna happen to Scabbers now?"

The question had been on everyone's face. "Well, he is in ministry hands now – and he is going to be punished justly for what he did to mummy and daddy."

"And is he ever coming back?"

"No, sweet boy. He's darkened our days for the last time," he said as he pulled him closer still. A heavy silence fell over the room, an understanding among the adults.

"Love you Sirius." said Harry as he cuddled his godfather ever closer.

"I love you as well, Pup. More than anything else," Sirius declared with rather misty eyes.

It was a long time before any one moved.

XXX

Even though Sirius knew he as well as Remus and Harry be more comfortable if they were just to return to the house that night, the suggestion was not even made. Together with the Tonk's and the Weasley's, they were going to camp down at Shell Cottage for the night.

"You should try and get some sleep," Andy said as she came into the living room to see Sirius still up. Remus had gone upstairs to sleep on the floor of the spare room with Arthur taking the bed a while ago. Molly had gone into Nypmh's room with the boys and Ginny. Though they knew the Tonks, unless Nymphadora was there, it was not as if they stayed there over night a lot. It was a strange night, and Molly wanted to be there for them if they woke up in the night.

"I am not going to sleep tonight – we both know that Andy," he said as he continued to cradle his Harry. The boy had longed since fallen to sleep, having been changed into a pair of Nymphs least girly old pyjamas. "What if he had got to Harry before I clicked?"

"Come on Sirius – you are the last person I have to tell it does not do to live your life by what ifs." She said kindly as she ran a hand through Harry's hair. "What is important is that you did realise. And now Peter can never hurt Harry again."

"I never wanted to hate the way I hate him. I didn't want to know what it felt like... I was an inch from murder tonight..." he realised. "Had you not come in I know for sure in my heart I would have done it. I am capable of murder Andy..."

"Yes... I know. But unlike so many of others who commit murder, you are also capable of great love and absolute loyalty. You feel things so deeply, Sirius," she shook her head. "I just pity the poor girl who first break's Harry's heart."

He gave a small chuckle add a sad smile.

"You can move on now. The war is over Sirius. Focus on being a father."

"I wouldn't here without you."

"Be careful – Ted will have to widen the door frames for me to get my head through!"

She knew he was being – well, serious. And she knew he was telling the truth. Had she not acted the way that he had then the only place he would have been sleeping that night was his old cell.

With her wand, she lit the fire. Kicking her shows off, she put her feet up on the couch and begun to strum her fingers lightly and soothing through Harry's hair, her shoulder on Sirius's shoulder.

XXX

Even at breakfast though, the mood in the house was yet to lift to what it had been the day before at the Quidditch match. Not even the promise of a new rat could persuade Percy to come near Sirius.

Ginny too seemed a little nervous about him, as did Ron, though the twins, who had always revelled in his company, took their lead from Harry who sat by Sirius side with a brave smile on his face. Things were going to be ok. That was what Sirius had said.

Yet his godfather was aware that the nightmare was not over – not yet. And proof of this came in the form of professor Dumbledore.

"Come on, Harry, why don't me and you go into the kitchen?" said Andromeda to him seeing Dumbledore and Sirius head into the living room with Remus. Having just seen the Wealsey's back off to the Burrow (who decided it was time to give the others some privacy) Andy had been in the hall way. "Remus tells me you are a mean baker."

"Can't I go in with Sirius?"

"Not at the moment, sweetie," his honorary aunt said as she offered him a hand which he willingly took.

Yet it was not until Andromeda shut the kitchen door that Harry stopped watching the shut living room one.

"Last night, under the influence of Veritaserum, Peter Pettigrew admitted to – everything," Dumbledore cut to the chase once the door was shut. "Being Secret Keeper, betraying Lily and James. I added my voice to the recommendation that he be kissed and that is the sentence which has been passed. Sirius, your request to be present when it happens has also been granted if that is what you still want to be."

The Auror nodded immediately.

"Don't feel you have too."

"But I do professor. I do. What time?"

"The Dementor has been sent for. Seven o'clock tonight," Dumbledore said gravely.

"Very well. I'll be there," said Sirius as he turned to Remus. "Are you going to come?"

"No – Harry needs me here... but you need this just as much," said Remus with great understanding. The five years of separation had been hard on them both – but it had been harder on Sirius than it had been on him.

He needed vengeance. Now that Remus calmed down, all he needed he found was his family.

Sirius nodded, glad the two of them were able to respect what the other needed without making a big thing of it.

He spent the rest of the afternoon mainly in contemplation. Remus and Harry left around one to go back to the house – little Jaime had been in since the night before alone. He needed feeing and walking. In the havoc which had gone on, they had forgotten all about the poor mite.

Andy's quiet company was the only Sirius could take that day.

Sirius never spoke of the horror he witnessed in that room on that day. He could only say to himself he had borne it as stoically as he could. He would not wish what he had seen and witnessed on majority of humans. But he couldn't say he couldn't wish it on his worst enemy – for he had. And even as he drank a bottle of fire whiskey at James's grave side later that night, he couldn't regret it.

Peter had got his just desserts.

And he had got Harry and Remus back. He could focus on being a father and a brother from that day on.

No more regrets. No more lies.

The time for truth had come and it had changed his life; the truth about October 1981 would hit the press tomorrow.

And suddenly it didn't matter. From that day on, his life focused on the future. Not the past.

_Please review!_

**Author Note:** Hey all – hope you enjoyed the chapter. Just to give you the heads up, the next 'chapter' going up is in fact the epilogue! I can't believe I'm nearly done on Time now!


	25. Epilogue: The Happiest of Birthdays

_Epilogue: The Happiest of Birthdays_

Not so many days after the effective death of Peter Pettigrew, Harry got up to beautiful sun shine. He had looked out on to the lawn of the house he loved so much to see his godfather standing with a mug in his hand, just watching the world go by. He saw a man who was finally, after a long struggle, at peace with the world.

After that day, Sirius seemed to be less in a hurry; less eager to get on with life and not so inclined to always be moving. He was more content and more eager to saviour little moments.

Remus knew there had been a change when one night after he had tucked Harry in, he had returned to the living room to find Sirius just sitting reading (Quidditch Throw the Ages). Remus had racked his brain to try and think of time since Sirius had been out of Azkaban so far to when he had just sat reading.

No, he could remember a lot of Sirius brooding at night, but not a lot of just chilling.

"What?" Sirius had asked when he noted he was being watched. Moony had simply shaken his head and gone to get a drink.

That had been two months ago. Every day since, Sirius had seemed a little more at ease. The effect was dramatic.

He seemed to have taken a de-aging potion. Sirius' eyes seemed to have got a sparkle back and the bags under them were reduced. He did not walk around under a cloud and was certainly less weighed down by the past. The man now playing in their new installed swimming pool could have passed for any young father playing with their son on said sons seventh birthday. If you hadn't been told Sirius had been to Azkaban, Remus didn't think you'd know.

Sirius had got the idea of the pool as the days had begun to heat up. As if the weather too were overjoyed that there was no more immediate threats to their family life, a blistering summer had arrived. Long gone was Sirius' pale, hollow skin – he had tanned as if he had spent two weeks abroad.

For now though, when the Harry was in the pool, he had to hold on to something – preferably an adult due to the fact that he had been with his aunt and uncle, needless to say, they had not shelled out money for swimming lessons. Though it had made Sirius angry at first, now he looked at the positive side. When Harry looked back, he'd remember all the fun _they_ had splashing about together while he did learn to swim.

That day though, it was all about fun, seeing as the pool was quite full. As Hogwarts was out for summer, Charlie, Bill and Nymph had all come up to the house with the younger kids for the second birthday party Harry had ever had.

The signs that the past five years had happened were still visible in their day to day lives. When Remus and Sirius had first offered to throw Harry a party for his birthday he had been a little confused by the concept. That he should have one...a treat only reserved for Dudley...well, it had confused him a little.

They were never going to be able to erase all that entirely.

But the Dursleys were as far from Harry's mind as they could be that day it seemed.

"Lupin," a voice called through from the living room. Apparently Severus had arrived.

"Here to see the birthday boy I take it?"

"Indeed," Severus nodded. In his hand was a rather well wrapped, suspiciously book like parcel.

"Where is he?"

"Out in the pool with Sirius, Ted, Arthur and the other kids. Molly and Andy are as ever playing the role of the adults," he pointed through the window to where ladies who were sitting, watching the goings on.

"A swimming pool? Is that not a tad extravagant on Sirius' part."

"Maybe, but it is going to give Harry a lot of good memories, especially of today. Even if it is, then it is an argument for another day," said Remus as he picked up the pitcher of lemonade and some plastic cups.

"Is any one thirsty?" he called out to the swimmers as he excited the kitchen, Severus following behind him as he went into the garden.

"Hey Uncle Sev!" called Harry from the side of the pool he was clinging on to, Sirius not more than two feet from him.

"Happy birthday young man," the potions master called as he sat down by Andromeda. As a Slytherin, she was the member of the motley crew he was least likely to get annoyed with, though he was thoroughly expecting to have a headache by the time that he left to go back to Spinners End.

Any argument that he may have had with the pool died as soon as he saw the radiant smile on Harry's face.

"Thanks," he said. "Moony, can I have some?"

"Of course you may, but you're going to have to get out of the pool for a drink it."

Apparently though, that was fine with Harry. Climbing out of the pool once Sirius had helped him round to the steps, he soon found himself wrapped in a towel on Remus's lap.

His eyes stayed on the pool though, where a game of 'Get Sirius' had been declared silently by the others kids. While Charlie, Bill and the twins had gone for a frontal attack, Sirius also had to contend with Nymphadora climbing on his back.

Naturally, Ted and Arthur were being no help at all and just laughing.

Harry watched with a slightly longing look on his face. Remus dropped a kiss on his forehead. "Don't worry buddy – this time next year, you'll be able to do that too."

The young Potter nodded. "I know."

It was not long until the others too vacated the pool. Sirius needed the biggest drink of all when he was allowed out.

"Why is it even when you are relatively young still, kid's make you feel about forty?" asked Sirius as he got his breathe back.

Andromeda only cackled in response. He was a parent indeed.

Molly gave a smile. "I think it is a gift they have," she said sarcastically.

By the time that he had got his breathe back, the kids were all involved in a rather ferocious looking game of tag. Severus' opened presents lay on the table; the two story books looked quiet fun to read considering who had picked them out.

If it was a normal night then he may have invited Severus to stay read to Harry before bed, but as it was, he wanted to that night. He had not had the opportunity before; not on his birthday.

Gratefully, Sirius sat down; apparently not needed for that game and so he relaxed with a cool bear and Jaime at his feet.

Oh yes - this was the life for him.

The rest of the day followed much of the morning had – there was lots of laughing going on and at about five o'clock the entire 'family' sat down for a birthday tea, which much to Severus' disapproval, broke with the usual healthy diet that Sirius and Remus normally followed. Crisps and cake was the order of the day, as well as burgers off of the BBQ. If it was nutritious, at least for that night, it was off the menu.

Within minutes of having eaten there food, the kids were once more off running about. It boded well for what the rest of the summer was going to bring to them.

"You know Harry is really going to miss the twins next year," said Sirius to Molly as he realised that the boys were only too soon going to be going off to Hogwarts – Percy was off with this in take into Hogwarts.

He did not think the two of them were ever going to have a great relationship. It was not as bad as it had been a few months before hand but it was quite clear the two of them were not destined to be close friends. Percy missed Scabbers in spite of the fact he had a new rat. But he was a young boy. Sirius could only hope that when he was old enough to understand all of what had gone on, he would forgive him.

"Well, let's not worry about that yet," said Molly with a heavy sigh that which drew a quizzical look from Sirius. She shrugged. "My boys are growing up too fast for my liking."

Charlie and Bill was just the tip of the iceberg. They both knew in the blink of an eye all of the children, even Ginny, was going to be up at Hogwarts.

And then the lord only knew what was going to happen to them all. "Merlin preserve them all," said Sirius under his breath.

Molly looked at him with a clear understanding. As much as they both knew it was a good thing they had ensured Peter could never get to the children again, Harry was going to come up against a lot worse than Peter in his lifetime. Molly's boys were the truest friends he was ever going to get and so they were going to come up against it too.

Molly wasn't sure what or who she believed, but she nodded: 'Amen.'

XXX

"Today was so good," said Harry later that evening as he got into bed, a very exhausted seven year old indeed. After he had let his tea go down, he and the others had got back in the pool. Although he and his friends usually had a lot of fun, they had been especially hyper active today.

Climbing up on to the bed, he settled himself next to Sirius and without so much as a second though he cuddled in to his side and let his eyes drop, though, of course, up until twenty or so minutes ago, he had been protesting he was not tired.

"I am glad you enjoyed it, pup," said Sirius as he dropped a kiss into his hair.

Harry remained quiet for just a moment before he buried his godfathers t shirt, before murmuring, as if almost embarrassed; "That was the best birthday ever."

"Well, I am glad to hear it," laughed Sirius softly but then he became alarmed as he felt Harry shake beside him. The young boy turned his face up to him and Sirius was alarmed to see it was covered with tears.

"Don't be sad if you have had a good day!" said the Animagus as he put his arms about the boy.

He did not want to see his godson crying, not any day of the year. But especially not that day.

"It is just I had a funny thought and I didn't like it," he said as he let Sirius cuddle him, as ever finding comforting the arms of his beloved godfather. "And its cause' I'm happy I am crying. They are happy tears really."

"And what was that?" said Sirius hoping that he was going to be able make it go away.

"What if you had not come back for me? What if I was still with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon?"

Sirius understood why harry had got upset – the thought made his own blood run cold.

He had nearly been with Harry a year – five years too short of what they should have been together. For all the ups and the downs and the twists, it had turned out to be the best year of his life.

Really, it had been the year he had at last stepped up and became a dad. He had grown up, not only because he had had too, but because he had wanted too.

Holding Harry closer, he sighed. "Well, I can see why that would get you in a state buddy, but you have to think – I did come for you. I did and we're together now. Nothing will change that kiddo – I won't let it."

"Promise?"

"I promise. It is us against the world, me, you and Remus. We're a family Harry. And that's all there is too it."

At the end of the day, when all was said and done Sirius knew that was the only truth that had ever really mattered.

It was an hour later when Remus walked up the stairs. Poking his head around the door he saw Sirius was still with his godson, peaceful as he slept with the boy in the crook of his arm. The two of them looked as if they had never been apart.

"And never will be again."

It was at that moment when he felt something soft brush up against him before going past. Yes, they were failing miserably at keeping Jamie downstairs at night. The growing pup jumped with grace up on to his young master's bed and settled quickly down before looking back at Remus nervously.

"Just this one night then. You're back on the kitchen floor tomorrow, buddy, don't get too comfortable."

Jamie put his head down on the bed and was asleep within minutes.

Remus had been about to go to his own room when he saw that if one of the two pups in the room was asleep then the other wasn't.

Walking over to the bed, he kissed Harry on the forehead.

"Night Moony," Harry muttered quietly, careful not to raise his voice in case he woke Sirius.

"Goodnight pup, sweet dreams."

"Love you."

"I love you too."

_**The End.**_

**Author Note**: Hey all – well, that's all on this story folks. Can I just say a massive thank you to all you lovely people who have read and reviewed and spoken to me about the plot? I have had a lot of fun with this fic over the past year and a bit.

I know a few of you were wondering if there was going to be a sequel, but I have kind of run out of steam for the moment. I don't want to go through the motions of the Hogwarts years for the sake of it, so I am afraid until I think up something a bit more original to continue the plot with; I am going to be leaving it here with Remus, Sirius and Harry safe together.

Thank you so much again guys for reviewing! I really appreciate it!


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